Lord of Weapon
by silversquall88
Summary: When Cloud, Tifa, and Cid enter the world of FF8, they find themselves trying to deter an ancient prophecy. With the inclusion of the remaining FF7 crew, both worlds are now fighting the new WEAPONS, as well as an enigmatic new enemy. COMPLETED!:11,12,epi
1. Report

Disclaimer:You know the drill. I don't want to waste time pointing out the obvious. Although I do have to point out credit to the film Event Horizon. Everything else that's non-Squaresoft is mine.

Notes:This is my first fanfic, so please review and make sure to tell me what I'm doing wrong. Especially OOCs. I'm trying to avoid those. I'll try to update every few days, two weeks at the most. But these are just hopes, I'm still adapting to Junior year, so you might have to wait longer. One last thing is that, this might seem a little slow at first, but I'm trying to break into the main plot around chap3/4. NO, DON'T RUN AWAY YET! Give it time. I'm trying to make it worth your while to read this. See ya.

-silversquall

Final Fantasy 7/8: Weapons of Legend

Chap 1:Report

"Ok, this better be real or you'll be looking for a new job."

"Don't worry, it is," replied the employee.

Gavin walked toward the main display at the back of the lab. He was the scientist in charge of LITS: Life in the Stars, a branch of the Esthar government devoted to anything that involved intelligent life that existed outside Gaia. Currently, Gavin was called into the cramped room of Lab15 that was used specifically to reconnoiter the area of space between the orbits of Gaia and Dite. Due to the fact that there were never any alien life forms entering the star system, the employees that worked in the Incoming Lifeforms Division spent most of their time playing online games using the Esthar Network, only checking the monitors at the beginning and end of their work shift. In the past three years that LITS was active, there had been 150 false reports, for laughs. There had also been 150 employee discharges. If they actually spent some time thinking about it, they would realize that ILD was only used for last-second observations, since it only covered a small area. Any ship entering the star system would be found by the Esthar space center (with the Long-Distance Life Forms Division even prior to that) on the surface, and then ILD would be used for verification.

"Well, where is the...Hyne Almighty." said Gavin.

Right before his eyes was unmistakably a large ship moving away from Dite's orbit toward Zeu's orbit. That was the only planet between Dite and Gaia.

"Did you check the speed, answer me? How long before it enters the atmosphere?" Gavin yelled as he lifted the young man up by his collar.

"Ten hours, I think," he said as he was being choked. "It's slowing drastically so that's only an estimation based on the ship's current rate of deceleration.

"Okay," Gavin mumbled as he dropped the employee, "That should be enough time for me to alert the world leaders. "But how could the ship pass through both LDLFD and Esthar detection? Of course they'll blame me somehow since my long distance group should have traced the ship first, but then Esthar missed it too. Odd."

"Sir, what do we do now?" the employee said loosening his collar.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK? Keep tabs on the ship and relay the information to the Gaia Communication Room so that they can relay it over to Balamb, Galbadia, Trabia, and Esthar to update them every minute, and I mean EVERY minute. I'm going now to address to them about the situation at hand personally at communications. I expect new info every time."

Gavin hurriedly turned around and walked out of the lab leaving the stunned worker.

In Esthar 

Laguna stared at his cup to find answers in the tealeaves. Of course, he knew two things. One, the liquid has to be gone. Two, it never works anyways. He leaned back on his chair and sighed. The sorceress debate was still active, even though it had been four years since the battle against Ultimecia. Every few months, it died down a bit but eventually came back up. There was still a large amount of the population that believed in the threat of Rinoa, the sorceress, also girlfriend of his son. His position on the debate was obvious. The debate did aid in bonding the two together; they nearly broke up forever, shortly after defeating Ultimecia.

As Laguna gazed at the ceiling design, Kiros walked in the office.

"I assume this is important since you interrupted my teatime, Kiros," Laguna said lazily.

"Since when do you follow Galbadian traditions? Anyways, there is an urgent feed from LITS...from Gavin himself," Kiros said.

"Then it's safe to assume that it's not a false alarm, unless Gavin finally cracked."

Laguna turned on the private monitor on his desk and clicked on the satllite icon. Kiros walked over as the President of Esthar fruitlessly tried to find the transmission. Kiros eventually found it for him and clicked "play". Laguna had picked up his teacup and was preparing to finish it when the satellite feed appeared, causing him to drop it on his lap.

_1 hour later_

Headmaster Cid sat nervously in his office in Balamb Garden. He was planning to promote Squall to Commander again for this situation, but after some strict glances from Edea, he decided against it. Even so, Squall would be at the arrival. He was a high-ranking SeeD after all.

_We will now be approaching Fisherman's Horizon. All SeeDs that are part of Operation Welcome Wagon, please come to the Bridge. I repeat, all SeeDs that are part of Operation Welcome Wagon, please come to the Bridge. _saidXu over the intercom.

Cid stood up from his chair and walked toward the bridge. He would have to regain his confidence soon if he were to be able to give a convincing speech to the SeeDs. "They may be high-ranking SeeDs, but this time, they're dealing with beings from outer space," Cid said under his breath.

A couple of minutes later, the chosen 15 stood before Cid. All of them were shaking uncontrollably, except for Squall and Seifer of course. For the next 7 minutes, the Headmaster gave a very inspiring speech to the SeeDs. Unfortunately, his closing note was,"Even if you're still scared, you have 3 hours on board of the Ragnarok to toughen up until the you reach the Esthar landing point, _only_ 3 hours though, not 9 since you'll be crossing the time zones, so have fun." Then he added, "Oh yeah, great, I have to be there too." Cid then asked for questions. One SeeD raised his hand and asked if multiple GFs could be used for this mission. Of course, Cid said no. The Balamb Garden policy concerning multiple GFs was created less than four years before, shortly after the battle with Ultimecia. Memory loss due to multiple GF junctioning was proven, limiting junctioning to one GF per person.

Afterwards, the 15 SeeDs exited the garden and began to walk the long path in Fisherman's Horizon toward the Ragnarok. The perpetually energetic Seifer slowed down halfway to catch "down" with Squall, Rinoa, Quistis, and Zell.

"So, any of you scared? How 'bout you Rinoa, you were only registered as a SeeD two months ago," Seifer asserted into the silence between the four.

"Yeah, but she's hell of a lot stronger than you!" Zell said in between fits of laughter.

Seifer was about to pull up his gunblade when Xu came up from behind, causally pushing the blade down.

"Now, now, we don't want to injure anybody, do we Seifer? We need all we can get if we're fighting an army."

"Do you think we'll be fighting an army, Xu?" asked Rinoa.

"Don't know what to expect."

"Whatever the size," Squall added, "as SeeDs, it's our job to be fight no matter what the situation."

"But if it's too much, you'll protect me right, Squall." Rinoa said.

"Stop that, you're a SeeD now."

"Fine," said Rinoa as she hurried along pass the group, looking hurt.

"Sorry, Rinoa," Squall apologized as he caught up with her, "I just have a lot in my mind."

"Those dreams again?"

"Yeah."

Zell watched as the couple sped up and got out of sight.

"Ya know, I wonder if Rinoa's pregnant. I heard a rumor in the library about that."

"It's probably just those same girls that hate Rinoa. They were attracted to Squall due to Ultimecia, but were crushed when they found out he was with Rinoa. Plus, being a Sorceress doesn't help either," Xu said in an annoyed tone.

"Ya know, I never thought I would get use to this," Zell remarked, staring at Quistis and Seifer.

The two were walking side-by-side, arms around each other's shoulder. Both were talking and laughing. Seifer and Quistis. Talking. And laughing. Zell nearly fainted less than two years before, when they got together. Seifer had assisted a group of SeeDs(that contained Quistis) out of his own boredom, and for some reason, he and Quistis fell in love on that mission. Shortly afterwards, Seifer had returned to Garden to become a SeeD. That time, he actually passed the exam.

"So, how do you feel, Zell? About this mission I mean." Xu asked.

"Alright I guess. I just hope my fists will work against them. Do you think 15 SeeDs will be enough? We should have just brought the whole SeeD force along."

"Don't worry, we also have several Galbadian and Esthar regiments in addition to the Galbadian SeeDs to back us up."

"I hope so," Zell said.

_3 hours later (8 in regards to the time zones)_

"Hey you guys we're here, "Selphie shouted over the intercom.

"There it is, the landing strip," said Irvine, observing the horizon over her shoulder. "You ready for this, Sefie?"

"Woo hoo! I was born ready. Can't wait to smash some Alien butt!"

_A few minutes earlier_

The other thirteen SeeDs had been spending their time in various areas all over the ship. Headmaster Cid was still nowhere to be found. As the destination grew closer, all of them were in a perpetual state of unease. Two of them, however, were on edge for different reasons. Squall and Seifer were both uneasy as a result of playing Triple Triad with some rather high stakes.

"Squall, you've been thinking for eight minutes. AND YOU'RE STARTING THE GAME!"

"Be quiet, Zell. Seifer and I are using very difficult rules. Random, Same, Plus, Elemental, and the win rule is All."

"Well obviously, you got pretty rare card. Otherwise, you wouldn't be stalling for this long," Seifer said with a furtive grin.

"Okay, I place, wait, no. I place, no, not that either."

As the game was still in the midst of starting, Rinoa walked in the room.

"Oh my gosh, Squall? I've been gone for nearly half an hour, and you still haven't started the game."

"Actually I finished that game a couple of minutes ago. Now please, just let me think." Squall continued to concentrate on his first move. It wasn't like he was obsessed with the game. True, he was cautious; but also true was the already uneasy state of his mind. The dreams were getting clearer and far scarier. He already told a couple of people, but mostly, he confided in Rinoa. Still, he had not given her the complete details of what he saw, nor did he say that the dreams were increasingly more detailed. She simply believed that a mysterious swordsman had been haunting him in his dreams. In reality, Squall could now actually see the face of the warrior. A cold, unnerving stare made more frightening by a bloodthirsty smile. In his latest dream, Squall had seen that the nameless swordsman had finished using some sort of fire spell to burn a small village, turned around, and walked back through the flames he had created. Squall had never seen this man and this town in his life. And somehow, he knew that it was linked to the alien ship that was going to land in Gaia in only an hour.

"Okay, I place..."

"Hey you guys we're here!"

"See what you did! I had the perfect hand and now we have to stop!" yelled Seifer as he threw his cards down on the floor. He had been holding a Zell, a Squall, a Seifer, a Quistis, and an Irvine.

"Calm down. Let's just get going," Rinoa said.

The four SeeDs began walking toward the bridge, meeting up with the rest of the force. They still had an hour to kill, but their nerves were already beginning to burn out.


	2. Arrival

Disclaimer:Same as always.

Notes:I love how when I upload the chapter, a bunch of stuff gets screwed up. Mostly the transitions that I use to distinguish between different scenes. Thanks for reviewing this, Rogue Lockheart. Ya know, I knew I should have placed this story under FF8 instead of FF crossovers. That way, I get more reviews. Oh well doesn't matter. As for stuff relating to this story, to the handful or one who actually reads this, don't worry, I **will** finish this fic. I was scared at first that I would be one of those authors who write one and leave(don't worry, I understand perfectly well the reasons why, not blaming you). I already wrote Chap 3 and 4(where the action starts), and I actually know where I'm headed too. Anyways, onward with the story.

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 2:Arrival

_Several minutes until the alien ship enters Gaia's atmosphere_

"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it," said Zell.

The aura of uncertainty could have been seen a mile away from the landing zone. Practically every soldier was sitting down and shaking their leg, whistling off-key tunes, conversing with others about the weather, or pacing back and forth while muttering unintelligible words. Zell was one of the exceptions; he had been sitting in the same spot, slamming his fists together while saying, "Damn it", over and over again for half an hour.

"Damn it."

"If you say that one more time, I will slam this gunblade into your mouth, okay?" said Seifer as he pointed the Hyperion in Zell's direction.

"Don't be such a delinquent, Seifer," scolded Quistis playfully. "Should I whip you into shape?"

"Oh please," said Zell, "that's the worse line I've ever heard."

Still sitting side by side with Seifer, Quistis ignored the comment and turned her head toward the heavens. _So, we're not alone in the universe._ _Hopefully, they're not violent._

Next to the couple were Laguna, Squall, and Rinoa.

"So, the ship wasn't detected, Laguna?" asked Squall.

"Nope. I don't know why. Everything that enters this star system should already be seen right when it passes the planet Ades. I assume they had some sort of cloaking device."

"Then they would have left it on, right?" said Rinoa. Why would they turn it off two planets away?"

"Maybe they decided they were too strong," said Irvine as he joined the group, walking with Selphie.

"Where have you two been?" asked Rinoa.

"Having lots of fun if you know what I mea–. Hey! Why'd you kick me?"

"We were just walking around, Rinoa," said Selphie.

"You didn't have to kick me. I was just telling the tr–. Sorry."

_On the alien ship_

"Uh, Cid? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" asked Cloud.

"Yeah. This camera is pretty damn useful. We can see the surface right before we even enter the atmosphere. Hey! Look at that. There are people down there that look like us. That means we can probably brea–. Holy shit! That's not just a group of people. That's a fuckin army!

"What's the big deal you guys? What do you see?" said Tifa as she walked in the cockpit. She walked a little closer to the viewing screen.

"You guys are scared of an army, after all you've been through?"

"Hey, these are aliens. Who knows how strong they are?" said Cloud.

"And they might have super-powerful magic shit too. What if they have a spell called "doomsday" that blows up whatever they use it on?"

"Then you can cast Wall, Cid. Or I can cast Big Guard. And Cloud, you have the Ultima Weapon, the Ultima spell, and the Knights of Round. If they beat the crap out of you, you can use Omni-slash."

Cid didn't respond, and simply went to his controls to prepare the landing. Cloud also didn't answer, and simply looked at the floor.

"Are you still worried about the dreams, Cloud?" asked Tifa. "They're probably just dreams. You never recognized that place, guy in white, and the Odin in the dream looked different too. Odin is just a memory of the Ancients; he can't be killed."

"You're right, Tifa. Well, let's get ready." Cloud knew he had never seen the events in his dream. He hadn't told Tifa for fear of worrying her, but he knew that the images were somehow linked to this world.

_Back on the surface_

"There it is! There's the ship over to the west!" shouted a Galbadian SeeD.

Everyone quickly turned to look at the huge bluish vessel that was headed in his or her direction. Cid, still hiding in the Ragnarok, looked out the window as well to see the supposed oncoming menace. It was nothing like any of the soldiers had ever seen, or any resident of Gaia for that matter. It wasn't anything like the Ragnaroks. The ship from a worm's eye view, looked liked a triangle with rounded corners. The front of the ship was pointed but quickly expanded vertically above the point. Below the point, the surface remained flat, aside from three huge thrusters spread around the center of balance. To put the ship in laments terms, it looked like half an ice cream cone.

The ship finally reached the landing zone, moving parallel with the planet's surface. Some of the soldiers that were on the western side of the camp finally saw what had been propelling it. At the back of the ship, where the ice cream would be place with in the cone, it was flat with hundreds of thrusters only a few feet in diameter. The people below, who understood the technology of the Ragnaroks, could easily tell that the rear thrusters were puzzling. They could not emit the force strong enough to leave the planet's gravity. These aliens must have a smaller planet than Gaia.

It appeared as though the ship would move past them but quickly stopped. The rear thrusters turned off, and the colossal three beneath the ship were activated, allowing the ship to land carefully. After the lower thrusters were deactivated, the ship seemingly drifted downward to the surface.

When it finally hit the ground, everyone let out a deep breath. Then, the entrance quickly opened up, from the center of the ship's bottom. The slanted stairway dropped down through the opening and hit the dirt. Two people appeared in the entrance. Squall squinted at them to see if either of them was the one of his dreams. One was a brunette girl in her twenties, wearing a white sports bra and small black miniskirt. Definitely not her. The other was a blond man also in his twenties wearing some sort of blue armor. Not him either. The one in his dreams had long, white hair.

"Hey Squall," Seifer said quietly, "check out that blade. It's awesome."

Squall squinted a little more. On the male alien's back was a huge zweihander. From what he could see, it had a large blue streak down the middle, and some long protrusions near the top of the hilt. He had seen that weapon before. Squall turned over to Rinoa. She was looking back at him with a stare that stated she was thinking the same thing. Both Squall and Rinoa turned over to Zell, finding the same expression. The blade on the back of the alien was also the weapon used by the Ultima Weapon at the bottom of the Deep Sea Research Center. How could this alien be holding the same weapon?

Cloud walked down cautiously, trying to keep his face straight without showing any sign of fear. _Great. What should I do now? _He turned over to Tifa. She was clearly trying to hold her facial expressions as well. _Damn. I don't think Tifa knows either. Cid's got the easy job, waiting up there in the cockpit._ _Well, here goes._

"We come in peace."

The various armies continued to stand in silence.

"I repeat: we come in peace."

None of the soldiers below even made a whisper or an inhalation of air.

"Tifa," said Cloud, "I don't think they speak our language."

"Then why are you whispering?"

"Don't know. I think we can pull this off, though. They look just like us. I'm beginning to doubt that they're going to overpower us. And I don't see the guy in my dreams."

"Why'd you think he'd be here?"

"I can feel it. Oh shoot, there he is! In the white cloak next to the girl in the orange." Cloud slowly raised his right hand to the handle of his sword.

Laguna stepped up, moving in front of the crowd.

"I thought you said you came in peace. Why are you about to grab your weapon?"

Cloud nearly fell off the platform.

"Wait, if you could understand us, why didn't you say anything?" asked Tifa.

"Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say that I was shocked that we could understand you. Plus, you friend is pretty frightening."

"What's so scary about me?"

"Well, your blade is the length of your body. Enough said."

"We should be scared! You guys brought whole armies."

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves." Laguna turned around motioning to several people. Nobody moved except for Squall, Seifer, Quistis, and Xu. "Come you guys, all of you are the leader types that should be in this conversation." Reluctantly, the Galbadian president walked up. He was followed by the newly appointed Trabian Garden headmaster, the Galbadian Garden headmaster, the Balamb president, and lastly, Cid, the Balamb Garden headmaster appeared at the bottom of the Ragnarok.

"Anyways, my name is Laguna Loire. I am the president of this nation; it's called Esthar.

"My name is Cloud Strife. I am a mercenary, formerly of the defunct military force SOLDIER.

"I'm Tifa Lockheart. Although I work as a bar hostess, I'm also a well-trained martial artist in case you're wondering why I'm here."

The leaders of Gaia finally walked up and introduced themselves. Afterwards, Squall, Seifer, Quistis, and Xu introduced themselves as well. The introductions were soon followed by the motives of the space travelers.

"Curiosity, basically. Mostly that of our pilot, also named Cid. He's up there in the cockpit. He should be coming down anytime now. Cid's always wanted to travel to the ends of the universe," explained Cloud.

"I'm kind of puzzled about your ship though, "said Laguna. "It wasn't on our long distance radars. It was only sighted when it was two planets away."

"Well, I guess you guys are pretty damn observant," said a voice from inside the ship.

The group turned over to the ship to see a blond, unshaven man in his late-thirties walk down the platform. He had a cigarette in his mouth and looked comfortable for being in a new planet.

"My name is Cid Highwind. I'm the pilot of this ship, the Gravitor. Our planet is light years away from yours. By our technology, no mechanism can allow any type of vessel to fly beyond the speed of light. So, the scientists that were creating the ship realized that a solution should be made to solve this. They created a device, it's on toward of the back of the ship, that can basically, how can this make sense, it mimics the gravitational force of a black hole. It focuses the direction toward a certain space and rips a hole into the dimensional fabric, bringing one corner of the universe adjacent to another. It's pretty damn complicated, but that's the simple version. Anyways, the ship goes through the temporary hole and can move to a predetermined point in the universe.

"Really?" asked Laguna, "You can do that?

"Well, we did, didn't we?"

"I'll have to talk with some of my scientists. Anyways, how long are you guys planning to stay?"

The three looked back and forth at each other. At last, Cid spoke.

"Actually, we didn't even think it would work. The thing's pretty new and basic, and it kind of, got fucked up after one use."

"So, basically you can't get home? Don't worry about it. I'll have any specialist you need to fix the reactor."

"Are you sure? We don't want mess up the way of things here," said Tifa.

"It's not a big deal. You guys can stay right here in Esthar. Your ship can still fly short distances outside of space, right?"

"Of course. This baby can fly through space, air, or even glide on land and water," said Cid.

"I guess it's settled then," said Laguna while pointing to the northwest, "Just fly in that direction until you see the city. There's a landing strip, and, wait, maybe somebody should go with you guys to make sure you land correctly."

Laguna turned around, glancing around at the other presidents and headmasters. Since he _was_ the president of Esthar, he should go along with this little group. He looked up at the unearthly ship. _Nope, there's no way I'm going in there anytime soon._

"I'll go," said Squall, walking up to Laguna's side.

"You will? Well, alright then, let's get going." Laguna then motioned to the armies. "All forces can now return to their homes." Looking back at his son, he said, "Wait Squall, how are you going back?"

"They'll be going around the world then, right, since they're visitors to our planet? Somebody should guide them for the entire time."

"Well, I guess so, and," said Laguna and as he lowered his voice, "maybe you should get Rinoa too."

"Yeah, I think she'd like to go around the world again."

As everybody began going to their respective Ragnaroks, Squall, Rinoa, Tifa, Cloud, and Cid walked to the Gravitor. Cloud walked slowly, getting to the back of the group and pulled Tifa next to him.

"At least he's not that guy Seifer," he whispered, "But what if Squall is in leagues with him? They seem like friends."

-end of Chap2

"Stop panicking, it'll be fine.


	3. Collide

Disclaimer:same as usual. Plus, I kind of took a line from the Matrix because it was to hard to resist. The image was just to vivid in my mind.

Notes:Thanks to Kaegoe for review no. 2!!! Not much to say this time. Well, one thing: the beginning of this fanfic is based on some strange connection between Squall and Cloud. However, it will only be briefly explained in this fic. The focuses of this story are the chemical and biological structures and the true origins of the WEAPONS and the Ultima spell (I'll go into that around chap 5 or so), hence the title, which will soon have some meaning. The strange intertwining of the fates of Cloud and Squall will be the purpose of my second crossover fic.

-silversquall

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 3:Collide

_On the Ragnarok, toward the Esthar metropolis_

"Here, let me show you how to do this, Tifa. See, first you have to find one that is the perfect fit. Then you just place it in gently, but with confidence. See?"

"You're right, Rinoa. Doing this is so much fun. Let's do it more often. Hey Cloud, you have to come and see this. Watch me give it to Rinoa."

Cloud craned his head over to the girls, who were playing Triple Triad. Rinoa had been teaching Tifa how to play and was continually challenging her with advance rules. Just now, she had been explaining how to perform a successful chain combo with the 'plus' rule.

"Just a second. Let me finishing checking this blade out."

He was still examining Squall's weapon, the Lionheart. Its light, but piercing, blue color reminded Cloud of his own blade, which Squall himself was admiring it at the same time.

"So basically, this is a sword with a handle based on that of a gun's, right? But what's the deal with the trigger. It doesn't look like it can actually shoot bullets."

"Pulling the trigger unleashes a shockwave that is sent directly to the blade. So, yeah, it's just like a sword, but once I hit my target, I pull the trigger to send an extra punch to the strike. Hey, what are these crystal things on your hilt?"

"Oh those? They're called materia. It'd take a long time to explain what they actually are. Some combination of lifeforce and memories, don't ask. What the do, however, is basically magic."

"Magic? Don't worry. That isn't alien technology here. We SeeDs have the special ability to use magic as well. But we obtain it by absorbing them from monsters. Do you absorb the energies of these stones, and cast them as though they were part of you? That's how our magic works."

"We don't actually absorb them. We just use them. While they're embedded in my armor or sword, I can call upon the spell. For the basic spells, I can just say 'fire' or 'ice'. Those are magic; they are the green ones. The yellows allow me to perform different actions; that one is deathblow. This purple materia are 'independent'; this one lets me increase my luck. The blue ones are support; this adds the fire element to my sword. Lastly, the red stones let me call upon the presence of legendary beasts called Summons. This particular one I have here is called Odin."

"WHAT? Odin? How could you just _call_ him? We were never able to ask for Odin's help. He just came, or more accurately, he used to come. Your 'materia' maybe memories, but my Odin was very real, and he was killed. I don't think you could actually command that entity. Maybe his lifeforce came to this planet and infused itself into the stone that you now hold."

Cloud paused for a moment without answering. Then he said, "That's not actually possible. The materia are made from the lifeforce of this planet itself. And one question. That guy in the white cloak, Seifer I think it was, did he happen to be the one who, uh, killed Odin."

"How did you know that?"

Squall's eyes grew tense. Although his personality had been slowly changing from cold to warm over the course of the last few years from being in Rinoa's presence, he still felt uncomfortable when people other than Rinoa tried to analyze him. But this was worse. An alien had just seemed to be able to _read his mind_.

"Is anything the matter?" asked Rinoa. The girls had sensed the change in emotions and had turned to see what was the matter.

"Look, Squall. I'm not a mind-reading alien if that's what you think. Hear me out. I've been having some really crazy dreams. They progress more and get increasingly detailed every night. But it's all the same experience. I'm fighting Seifer. Then Odin comes out, tries to cut Seifer with his steel bladed sword, and ends up getting split in two. Now did that actually happen with you?"

Squall had the look of someone who had been just told the world was actually a computer simulation. He was clearly furious and in denial.

"No. This can't be. I won't believe it. How could you...?"

He grabbed for the Lionheart and turned around toward the girls in such a violent manner that Tifa felt chills down her spine.

"Don't you think you're being unreasonable?" asked Rinoa. "You're no different, remember?"

Squall stopped looked back at Cloud. "You wouldn't happen to have seen, sometime in your life, a man wearing a white and black outfit, having long, white hair, carrying a very long sword, and setting a town on flames."

"Something tells me that we have a lot to discuss," said Cloud.

_1 1/2 hour later _

Cloud and Squall had tried to summarize their previous quests as quickly as possible to explain the dreams/memories that each one had dreamt about the other, but to shorten the entire journeys was impossible. Rinoa and Tifa, having stopped their card game even added their angles to the story.

"So basically, we have both been seeing a major memory in the other's past. You saw my memory of Sephiroth burning Nibelheim, and I saw your memory of Odin getting killed by your rival, Seifer. Hmm. Their names seem similar but other than that, there doesn't seem to be any connection. How long has this been happening? For me it's been about three months."

"Same here. Well, three months ago, I was doing, well I wasn't really doing anything. I was on a mission to pacify some Trabian terrorists. The first night our group made camp there, I had a dream that I was in a town that was in flames. I don't know why the dream happened."

Cloud started tapping his head. Then he looked to his side in Tifa's direction. "Tifa, when did Cid announce that we were going to be on his mission through space?"

"Um, that was back in October. Wait, that was around three months ago. Was that when you started having dreams, Cloud?"

"Yeah."

The party of four sat in silence. After a couple of moments, Rinoa spoke.

"Why did you pick this planet? Did you have a hunch?"

"Now that you mention it," began Tifa, "Cid had us search random star systems that was in our database to scan and find any possible planet with a biosphere that was similar to Earth. Our program that would automatically scan every planet in the mainframe was defected and Cid was too impatient to wait until it was fixed. Cloud and I knew it was impossible, but..."

"I immediately found this planet for my first choice" finished Cloud. "We checked others but after several scans each, none could match the terra-compatiblity."

"What exactly was the compatibility value?" asked Squall.

Cloud and Tifa answered simultaneously, "96.3."

_In Esthar, Presidential Office_

"Although a small, and I emphasize that word, branch of this country's government is devoted to making contact with otherworldly visitors, none of my advisors and I, not even Gavin who is in charge of that division, thought that we should create a position for an intergalactic ambassador. But, under the current circumstances, I feel that it is not only necessary but very sensible as well."

Laguna walked around his desk to pick up a Galbadian sword and walked back to the front. Turning his gaze over to the right from Tifa to Cloud to Squall, Laguna said, "Kneel, Squall." Squall, bewildered, decided to comply. "Squall, I pronounce you Intergalactic Ambassador 1 of Esthar," stated Laguna while placing the sword's flat on Squall's left shoulder, then his right, and then finally his left again.

Afterwards, he turned to Rinoa and did the same, proclaiming her to be Intergalactic Ambassador 2 of Esthar.

As soon Laguna was finished, Squall said, "I know you're Galbadian and all, but don't you think you should be adapting to Estharian rituals since you are the president of Esthar." Laguna began to respond when Kiros and Ward walked through the door. "Laguna, Ward has some urgent news to tell you. He just arrived here a few seconds ago."

Laguna looked at Ward, then to Kiros and said, "He does? He can?"

Ward walked forward and presented a piece of paper to the president.

He took the sheet and read it. When Ward had handed it to Laguna, the four couldn't read the message but could see it was quite short. Yet Laguna stared at the paper for longer than was expected of someone with even his level of reading comprehension.

"The computer was damaged, Ward? Is that why you're giving me this in person? How many casualties were there in addition to the quantity at the time of this note's writing?"

Ward raised up three fingers.

"Whew," said Laguna, "Thank Hyne."

Ward then walked up to Laguna's desk and took a pen from the holder. He then grabbed the paper from Laguna's hands and placed it down. Ward scribbled down something and gave it back to the president.

"All except three," read Laguna. "Well..."

Squall was especially curious compared to the three at his sides. He had seen his father display, on numerous occasions, expressions of cowardice. But this time, Laguna was carrying a face of worry, fear and lastly, one of concealed anger.

"I know that I am asking a lot," said Laguna "but would you guys, Tifa and Cloud, please help me with a situation. I know you two are powerful fighters, so would you both be willing to risk your lives?"

"LAGUNA!" said Squall. "What are you doing? They're our guests. I'm a soldier, I can go."

Laguna, ignoring Squall, continued, "Will you two be willing? And your pilot, Cid. I noticed he had a lance even when he was just walking with the scientists earlier to show the Gravitor. If I recall, he was also in the battle to save your planet?"

"Laguna, what the hell is going on here?"

"Look Squall, you're strong, I know. But so is Ward. He is one powerful guy, and he's not the type to run away from a fight. A few hours ago, he did, because something had killed his entire crew save for two others not counting himself. Something very dangerous is down there and it might be able to swim across the ocean, and for me to wait for the organization of a SeeD force is just stupid. And to send my soldiers there is also stupid because twenty of them were down there already. None of them survived."

Laguna took a chance to breathe and restrain his emotions.

"I need the best and the most experienced to handle this. Even if you and Rinoa are willing, and I know you both of you are, there is no way in hell that I'm sending you two alone." He turned in the direction of Tifa and Cloud. "Minutes before your initiation, still addressing Squall, the both of them had just finished explaining their status as saviors of their world when I inquired about their fighting auras. They're skilled and they've been through a lot. If they acquiesce with my request I would not argue. With five proficient soldiers, whatever is down there should be easily controlled."

"Don't worry, Squall. We understand you father's panic. We will be happy to go and fight this thing. Right, Cloud?"

"Yeah. Don't sweat it, Squall. Although I think Cid may decline. He'll probably want to look over the repairs to his ship."

"Fine, if you guys honestly don't care."

Rinoa walked up to Laguna's side. "So where exactly is this place we're going to? Anyplace I've been?"

Laguna handed the dispatch to her. She scanned the words:

_Mr. President, You must send reinforcements at once. SeeDs are not preferable but absolutely necessary. Fifteen of the twenty soldiers have fallen. And their final five are battling some mysterious creature as we speak. I repeat, please send reinforcements. The other scientists and I are preparing to escape as soon as I send this message. Be careful; the beast is unimaginably powerful. It may be a relative of that thing your son and his comrades fought, the Ultima Weapon. _

_-Dr. Gaston, Deep Sea Research Engineer 9_


	4. Garnet

Disclaimer:ditto

Notes:Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming. Kaegoe, I don't mind the long reviews, so don't worry. And also, your Zell and Tifa fist fight is in chap 5. Hopefully my battle scenes are better than my dialogue. The funny thing is, these battles would probably only last a half-minute in real-time, but it took me a half-hour each to write them (not the one in this chapter, this one is very simplistic, but hey, these guys are pretty damn strong, remember?) As for Cid humor, well, I'm not good at writing comedy either, but if I do it, expect it in chap 7 in a humor filler. And for my "Weapon revelations", it's been pushed back to chap 6. Get ready for complex physics and chemistry facts in that, most of which I made up or don't understand very well in the first place.

-silversquall

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 4: Garnet

_On the Gravitor, toward the Deep Sea Research Center_

The space/land/water/airship, in spite of all the auxiliary functions it had, was not even on par with the Ragnaroks. Unfortunately, like those ships, the Gravitor's engine is altered when leaving the zone of zero gravity. Those types of ships move quite fast for space travel within the star system, but the speed is cut drastically as soon as it enters the atmosphere. Even worse, the Gravitor was clearly designed to move from point A to point B instantaneously and not much else. Still, its speed allowed for a trip from Esthar to the Research Center to only last about three hours. Laguna had been worried that this new Weapon was a marine organism, but the satellites hadn't picked up any motion of an unusually large creature moving away from the island. Three hours had nearly passed and Laguna could rest easy that the ship would probably reach its destination with the creature still there.

"Man, this is so fucking boring. I thought we'd be close by now," said Cid as he checked the coordinates. "Oh, we are. Thank God."

Cid had actually offered to fly his ship to the research center. He simply had the Estharian scientists remove the gravitational reactor from the Gravitor and work on it that well, freeing the ship for his use. He didn't have to be there for two reasons, he explained to Cloud who had asked him: "I'm a pilot. I'm also a plane mechanic. This is not a plane. Not only that, the ship isn't the problem some black gravity-shooting box is. I couldn't care less what the problem was. I just need them to fix is so we can get home when we need to. Besides, you'll need my help to kick some WEAPON ass.

Cloud, Tifa, Rinoa, and Squall were all sitting in the "living room" of the ship. It contained a plasma flat-screen TV, racks of films, and multiple gaming consoles. Currently, Tifa, Rinoa, and Cloud were playing Tales of Symphonia.

Squall sat out for that battle, thinking over what Tifa and Cloud had commented on earlier. Rinoa had passed on the note to him, Cloud, and Tifa to read. The latter two had shouted "WEAPON!" at the same time. Squall looked over to the three playing the videogame. _Guess they're not curious or paranoid as I am. Though Cloud probably is, he's just obsessed with that RPG._ After the two had shouted, everyone just looked at them to see what was the matter. _Not only are Cloud and I sharing memories, both of our worlds contain the ultimate monsters called WEAPONS. This can't be just a simple coincidence. Could we be connected by this thing that we're going to face? I just don't get it. What the hell is going here?_

"C'mon Squall, we need your help in this battle," said Rinoa. "Your fingers can't hurt that much."

_HEY YOU VIDEO GAME JUNKIES, WE'RE HERE! _said Cid over the intercom.

_In the Deep Sea Research Center_

"Damn, look at all the damage that's been done to this place."

Cloud scanned the landscape around him. All of the facilities were in ruins, even the landing platform where they docked their ship. They also looked aged, perhaps a decade or so, judging from the paint's color. Was this really a working excavation site?

"Actually, Cloud, that was already there when we first got here a four years ago. Laguna began this operation a year or two after that, but obviously, he never got around to actually fixing that which was damaged," said Squall.

"Hey, that means this excavation site wasn't an Estharian endeavor?" said Tifa. "If they didn't do it, who did. Earlier when you told your story, it seems like you've never known about this place, so it can't be any of the other three contries."

"Something like this was probably a top-secret government project. Balamb's too small, Trabians don't seem interested in anything type of archeology that's out of their continent, and Laguna would have told us of it earlier if it were Estharian. That leaves Galbadia. Unless, this is some private faction; then it could be from anywhere."

"Yeah," said Rinoa, "after four years the scientists here still haven't found anything related to the Ultima Weapon and what exactly happened here that caused all this destruction."

"It could have been that or maybe just a couple of earthquakes," said Cloud.

"Laguna once told me that the metalloids used to create this island are not of Estharian level of technology, but they're highly advanced. Tectonic plates would not be able to cause these fissures," said Squall.

"Stop talking and let's just get this over with," said Cid.

The five started walking into the main building. A sense of nostalgia hit Rinoa and Squall as they walked in. Although the emptiness and eerie blue light that they remembered were not present, memories of fighting the GF Bahamut came back. The familiar surroundings were replaced by new walls, waxed floors, and working fluorescent lights, creating an antiseptic aura in contrast with the original dungeon look. Laguna did have the sense to fix the environment in which the scientists would be working.

Unfortunately, the new walls were stained with blood. No bodies, however.

"I just thought of something, Squall. What if this thing in here is as strong as the Omega Weapon? We were only able to kill it with the use of the Holy Wars that Gilgamesh gave us. And we don't have any of those left." said Rinoa.

"You guys didn't tell us that part of the story," said Tifa, "What Weapon? And who is this Gilgamesh?"

"Quiet!" whispered Squall. "Do you hear that?"

Everybody stood silently, listening intently. There were faint, but distinct, stomping noises somewhere below them.

Squall turned over, attempting to find the hole that he, Zell, and Rinoa had climbed down. Apparently, it had been replaced with an elevator. They wouldn't have to walk down hundreds of steps like they did last time.

"Let's go. What floor do you think it's on?"

Cid bent down to the ground and placed his hand on the floor. Then he turned his ear to it. To everyone's horror, he stood up, took his lance, and pounded the butt into the ground. He quickly pressed his ear to the floor. Cid turned to the others and said, "it's approximately 70 yards down and five yards to that side," as he pointed to his right.

He walked past them; after a few seconds without a response, he added, "Don't worry, I didn't give away our presence. It already knew we were here." Cid then continued toward the elevator.

"That was really interesting," said Rinoa.

The four followed Cid into the elevator, preparing for the worst. The elevator, luckily, had not been damaged, but it had been covered with more blood. Apparently, the creature was intelligent enough to use the elevator, twice, or more. Or maybe it followed a staff member and accidentally touched the button. As the box sank slowly into the earth, so did the hearts of the group. Fighting a Weapon always induced nervousness. They tried to give each other space but they could have not extra room if they were to avoid touching the walls at the same time

Moments later, the elevator and stopped. The doors opened, but nothing except a wide, empty corridor greeted them. The stomping was getting close. _Guess we're in the right place_, thought Tifa.

The group moved through the corridor and when they reached the three-pronged fork at the end, nothing was in sight. Suddenly, a door was blasted from the jamb, and a hideous-looking creature walked out of the opening, only a few feet in front of them.

It wasn't a large Weapon. The fighters from Earth could clearly see that. But for Squall and Rinoa, it was just more of the same. The beast was about eleven feet tall. Like the Ultima and Omega, it was a four-legged, centaurian beast. Above the lower head, however, instead of an insectoid creature, was a dragon's upper torso. It held a curved saber in its right hand. The neck was fairly long, giving the Weapon the appearance of a highly deformed Giraffe. The red, gore-like skin didn't make the sight any more pleasant.

"SCAN!" shouted Squall.

All of sudden, an image overlay appeared in the minds of the group, placed over their view of the creature:

_Garnet Weapon: One of the strongest, ultimate monsters. Its power exceeds that of the Ultima, Amethyst, Opal, Topaz, and Turquoise Weapons. However, this Weapon is still inferior to the Omega Weapon, which happens to be the strongest in the world._

"So, basically, this bastard is the second-strongest in the world," said Cid while pulling out his lance, "Let's do this."

He grabbed his lance and charged toward the beast.

"WAIT, CID!" yelled Cloud. "We don't know what we're up against."

"I don't give a shit!" As Cid approached the Garnet Weapon, he jumped into the air just short of the ceiling by a few inches and on his return trip, slammed the lance's point into the upper beast's chest. The dragon's head made a loud, growling noise and slashed Cid with its blade. Cid quickly dodged the strike and landed back in front of the group.

"Damn, the skin is tough."

Then the bottom head made a large roar, opening its gigantic mouth to reveal teeth that had been painted with a crimson tint. Before anybody could make a move, the opening emitted a red light that was headed straight for the group. Everybody jumped out to the corresponding branches of the hallway, except for Squall, whose right arm was caught in the blast. The laser lasted only a brief moment, but the instance it passed Squall's arm, it lit the limb on fire.

"Damn it! WATER!"

Squall's spell quickly extinguished the sleeve, but the damage had been done. Grabbing his wounded arm with his other hand to limit its movement, Squall quickly ran to the hallway on his left and stood next to Rinoa.

Cloud called out from the opposite corridor, "You alright?"

"What the hell was that?" asked Cid from behind Cloud.

"Yeah I'm fine," answered Squall. _What was that though? It barely touched me but I feel like my arm is going to melt off. _Looking at the Garnet Weapon, he used scan:

_Garnet Wave: A fire elemental attack that is five times stronger than firaga. The nature of the attack requires it to be charged inside the user's body for a period of time. However, the wave is also unstable, and causes damage to the user half the damage inflicted to the target. Fire defense means nothing, as the wave breaks all defense._

Rinoa looked over at Squall and said, "CURAGA!"

"Thanks," said Squall, "I'm definitely gonna need my full health for this battle." He checked Rinoa for any injuries and seeing none, he turned over to the opposite corridor. "You guys alright?"

Cloud, Cid, and Tifa all nodded.

"This being a Weapon, I think Rinoa and I can handle it with our limit breaks."

"I don't believe this," said Cloud, "we have limit breaks too."

"Let's try casting aura on them, Squall."

"Alright, here goes."

Before Squall could cast the spell—

_Apocalypse: The strongest spell in existence. It is even superior to the Ultima spell. _

several circles of varying sizes appeared on the floor and strange symbols materialized within them. Then, before anybody knew what was happening, the circle shattered and a huge flame slammed upward, catching anything in the vicinity.

The hallways in the area were soon scarred by the flames that appeared instantaneously. Out of the smoke, a voice cried out, "Renzokuken!" Squall came out of the ruined hallway and toward the Garnet Weapon. He slashed the beast repeatedly with his gunblade then jumped on top of the beast's back, continually slashing the dragon's head. After about nine hits, Squall flipped backwards and landed on his feet. "Damn, can't pull off a finishing move. My fighting spirit hasn't completely taken over me yet."

"Don't worry, I'm here to back you up."

Cid stood up, badly burned but still moving. He held up his lance and yelled, "Garnet, let's see you handle my dragon!" A blue, transparent dragon soared out of the spear and went directly toward the Weapon's upper mouth, which was, at that moment, screaming in pain. This blast knocked the Weapon backwards a few feet. Cloud and Rinoa stood up next, and in a pincer formation, they yelled, "Ultima!" A green mist emanated from Cloud and smothered the monster. A small fireball shot from Rinoa slammed against the Weapon and detonated into a huge, multicolored explosion, which was amplified by Cloud's spell. At this point, the beast was heavily scarred, but as with the other Weapons, it didn't seem to bleed. It continued to walk forward. Tifa appeared at last, and shouted, "Time for my new limit, Knockout Fist!" as she ran up and punched the Garnet Weapon in its bottom face. The monster finally collapsed; it stopped moving.


	5. Duels

Disclaimer:why do I bother putting this?

Notes:This chapter doesn't really hold any purpose in my saga as a whole. It's just a filler between the last chapter and my Revelations chapter (that's #6 and it's finished. YAY!) I introduced Zell again for no reason, except so that he could fight Tifa. Described murals on the ceiliing just to have a little semi-blatant foreshadowing in this story and the next. Gave Zell a Keitaro moment (hey, don't we all, okay, maybe not.) Should you skip this? HELL NO!!!! I flexed my action-sequence-writing muscles in this one, so check it out.

-silversquall

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 5: Duels

_Flashback to the Research Center_

_Squall grabs a piece of paper from the pile scattered across the floor. He picks it up and wraps it around the doorknob to avoid touching the red sticky substance that coated it. Everyone else except for Cloud and Cid follows him. They have entered an office; desks decorated the sides of the room with stacks of papers. The group splits to different parts of the room, trying to find any information that might explain where the Garnet Weapon came from. The papers only contained observations of rock formations or radiation tests from deep down on the bottom floors. The detailing of various chemical experiments could also be found in the notebooks lying around the room. At last, Rinoa discovered a slip of paper that had symbols on it. She called out to the others. Beneath the first group of symbols was the word Garnet._

_Break to reality_

Tifa sighed as she rolled back and forth on the bed. Finally she rested on her back while staring at the ceiling. _I knew that being in an alien planet would be weird. But, with all these coincidences and now this whole Garnet Weapon thing, what's gonna happen next?_ She gazed upward, trying to decipher the symbolic meanings of the three magnificent frescoes that decorated the ceiling. She hadn't cared to examine them up to this point, but she was too lazy to get out of bed. Analyzing the works would be a perfect excuse. One showed a red and silver lion wrestling with a black and yellow demon. It was a playful struggle however, for both creatures were smiling as they fought for supremacy. Oddly enough, the demon didn't look quite demonic. _What the hell is this supposed to be a picture of? Hmmm, I wonder if it's saying that war is actually nothing more than simple bickering between comrades. _Tifa shook her head. _No, that can't be it._ Tifa turned to the next picture. It showed the lion and the demon once again; now they were fighting alongside one another against a white dragon. Tifa squinted to look at this one more closely. Each of the dragon's claws had another, but smaller, dragon standing on it. She continued on to the final picture. It showed the two now fighting against a man. Except the human looked very demonic with green light emanating out of his hands. His eyes bore a crimson glare. This time, the lion and the demon did not look tough, but rather, scared. _Who drew these? He made the dragon a weaker enemy compared with the human. Must be a misanthropist. I have to ask Laguna later about the artist._

It had been only 12 hours since the incident at the Deep Sea Research Center. The weird markings that Rinoa had found were transcribed from a stone tablet found at the site. It too was hidden under a clutter of papers. The scientists had probably removed the stone after seeing the mysterious language; the extraction must have disrupted some sort of energy flow in the ground, awakening the Weapon. At least, that was the current belief.

After they had gotten back, Tifa, Cid, and Cloud had spent the night in Esthar, awaiting the translation. Laguna had told them the symbols were of an ancient dialect of an already ancient race known as the Centra. After updating Balamb Garden with news of the recent events, Squall and Rinoa decided to stay as well and wait for the results.

At last, Tifa got up from her bed, seeing how it was nearly time for breakfast. Immediately after opening the doors to her suite, Tifa heard a loud "OW!!" Instinctively, she pulled back the door a little and slid out to see the one she had hit. A blond, young man who seemed to recently break out of his teens was sitting on the floor and rubbing his head. He had a peculiar marking on the left side of his face. As he slowly raised his head upward, he said, "What the hell did you hit me for? That really hurt, ya know?" Before he could see where he was looking, he moved up his hands in a fighting stance, misjudging the attacker's width. The palms of his hands, curling into fists, mistakenly clamped over Tifa's breasts. "How dare you," said Tifa with fire in her eyes.

"Whoa, that was an accident just like your door.. I'm Zell, and I even have a girlfriend. Wait, maybe I shouldn't have said that."

"You unfaithful pervert!' Tifa skipped backward, immediately shifting into a fighting stance. "I'm gonna teach you a lesson."

"I'm innocent, I swear—"

Zell quickly evaded a haymaker. Tifa immediately followed up with several punches aimed at various vital areas. _I knew it. This girl is a fighter. I don't want to hit a girl, but if I don't do something, I'll be in pieces._

Tifa continued her unrelenting barrage of blows, as Zell shifted left and right to dodge the hits. Finally he grabbed her right hand as it was slamming toward his right shoulder. With his left hand, Zell grabbed her left arm, causing their arms to form an 'X'. "Look, you have to stop."

Tifa grinned. _Guess he's not a pervert after all. But he is one hell of an opponent. Can't pass this up. He really reminds me of grandpa with his playfulness that never seems to get offensive. _With her arms and hands locked, she yelled, "Somersault!" She made a flip, breaking Zell's grips and kicking him in the face at the same time. Afterwards, she landed in the same spot on her feet, continuing her attack with a left jab.

To Tifa's surprise, Zell stopped the attack an inch short of his face. "You're pretty good. Take this, Mach Kick!" After pushing her entire body backwards with his hand, Zell followed up with his attack, which was grabbed immediately with Tifa's right hand. With a snigger, she swung his leg to the side, unbalancing him in the process.

"Is a girl too much for you?" asked Tifa with a smile as Zell struggled to remain standing.

"That's not fair. You're an alien."

Tifa paused for a moment, taken aback by the strange comment. Then she remembered.

"Oh yeah, you're one of those soldiers who welcomed our arrival to this planet."

"Yeah, the name's Zell Dincht. SeeD, first class."

"Doesn't seem like it, unless you're holding back."

"I don't like to fight girls."

"Sure..."

Both just stood there, silent with an expression of satisfaction on their faces. Both knew, and knew that the other knew, the other had restrained his/her full power, simply allowing a respectable modicum of their fighting potential, the bare minimum for an interesting duel.

"Are you up for round 2?" asked Zell.

"Actually, I was just going to get breakfast. Wanna come along?'

"Now that you mention it, yeah, let's go. Lead the way."

Tifa walked forward in the corridor as Zell followed behind. They strode through the huge extravagant corridors of the Esthar City Hall. The walls were very futuristic in nature, with a recurring blue that illuminated the designs. Zell walked without any sign of interest, carrying the same goofy expression on his face.

"Are all of the architecture of your planet this advanced, Zell?"

"Well, it's a long story. Basically Esthar closed themselves off after the sorceress war and ended up evolving technologically centuries beyond the rest of the world."

"Right." _This place has a whole lot of a history. But then again, just like Midgar._ "Oh! Here we are."

The only hint that could have possibly told a stranger that this was in fact the eating area was the presence of several tables and benches. And that could have only happened under the occasion that the visitor had interpreted the golden-rimmed and silver-patterned furnishings as contraptions intended for dining purposes. As with the rest of the building, everything was lavishly designed. It was a little too fancy for Tifa to feel comfortable. She had already eaten here the previous night, but she had yet to warm up to the place.

"Hey! Over here. We were just about to look for you guys," shouted Rinoa from a distant corner of the room.

At one of the larger, circular tables in the room, Rinoa, Ward, Kiros, and Laguna were seated together. There were still four seats left.

"Hey," Laguna said, "You finally arrived, Zell. Where's Squall and Cloud? We assumed they were with you, Tifa, to meet Zell at the landing zone."

"Actually, I just got out of bed," said Tifa.

"I hitched a ride on one of those air taxis to get to this building," said Zell.

"I'm getting worried, Laguna," spoke Rinoa. "What if they went to check on the Garnet arm in the labs, and..." she gulped, then continued, "and something went wrong, and now it's Resident Evil all over again?"

"That's the most paranoid thing I have ever heard. Besides, if anything were to go wrong in any of the Esthar laboratories, this device, "Laguna said as he held up a black, square-shaped contraption the size of his hand, "would light up instantly. It began glowing red and vibrating as soon as Laguna finished his sentence.

"Just like—. Wait, what the hell?" He pressed a button on the gadget and brought it to his mouth. "Laguna here. Over."

_Mr. President, Squall and that alien are fighting next to the shopping mall. Over. _

"Why? Over"

_We don't know. They might destroy anything at any second. Please come quickly as possible to resolve this situation. Over._

"Alright, I'll be there. Over and Out. I guess our questions have been answered. Unfortunately, we have a host of other questions as well. Let's go people."

The group of six began running toward the City Hall exit, thinking the worst.

_Over in the Esthar Shopping Mall_

"Take this, Fire 3!"

Cloud launched a flame attack toward Squall who simply stood to take the hit. To Cloud's horror, Squall absorbed the attack completely.

"Try this, BLIZZAGA!"

Soon Cloud was frozen, and slammed by a massive iceberg. After the sleet fragmented away, Squall saw Cloud standing, unscathed by the spell.

"You're not the only one who can absorb elemental spells, Squall."

"Damn. Time for the old-fashioned way." Squall clutched the handle of his gunblade and dashed toward the blond swordsman. In an instant, Squall had slashed three times, and pulling the trigger three for three. The first was a downward cut, followed by a diagonal cut to the upper-left, finished with a horizontal slash to the right. To Squall's amazement, Cloud strafed sideways to dodge the initial strike, ducked below the second, and finished with a backwards jump to evade the final attack. Without a moment for Squall to catch his breath, Cloud jumped in the air, and cut straight down with his massive blade. Squall slid out of the way just in time to be knocked off-balance by the thunderous vibrations caused by the blade. _That's my cue,_ Squall thought to himself. _The blade's size limits multiple hits._ Squall lunged his gunblade's tip forward, aiming straight for Cloud. Realizing his weakness, Cloud decided not to attempt picking up the blade, and instead he jumped up again, holding the handle of his sword. He didn't actually pick up the blade but managed to twist it so the flat faced Squall and flipped it over, catching Squall's point. The laws of inertia forced the blade downward over Squall's gunblade, knocking Squall's body forward. He quickly sliced to the left, taking the blade out of the falling metal slab's path. Cloud, seeing this as he stood in the air holding the handle still, pressed his hands against the blade gaining the momentum to perform a somersault. As he spun through the air, he finished with a kick to Squall's right, knocking the SeeD to the ground. Reflexively, Cloud reached backwards to his sword, ripping it out of the ground, and swept overhead and was about to set it down on Squall—

"I'm not through yet!" yelled Squall.

when Squall tossed his gunblade as thought it were a throwing knife, striking Cloud's hand and removing his grip of the blade. The Ultima Weapon _and _the Lionheart fell between the two warriors. Then both of them started laughing.

"ARE YOU TWO INSANE? First you attack each other in my peaceful city and now all you two do is laugh! What the hell is wrong with you two? One of you is my guest on the planet and the other is my son. Good Hyne..."

"Calm down, Laguna. I was just showing Cloud Don Juan's junk shop when we decided to duel."

"That's no excuse, and—." The walkie-talkie device started blinking red again. Everyone turned to Laguna.

_Mr. President. We have finished translating the tablet and analyzing the Garnet sample that you took as well. Please come as soon as possible. This is urgent. There are things that you must be aware of immediately. The planet is in grave danger. And so may be another planet located in star system 391. You know, the one with nine planets. Over._


	6. Revelations

Disclaimer:The usual, plus everything I invented that is not directly linked to the FF series is mine.

Notes:Be warned, this chapter is twice my usual: 4000 words instead of 2000. If you thought my usual was short, then don't worry about it. Anyways, although it's called "revelations", this chapter doesn't talk about the Lord of Weapon just yet. The revelations are dealing with the Ultima spell, so get ready for a chemistry lecture in the second half (and if you're curious to know what exactly is real, drop me an email.) Oh, and thanks for the review, Riku no Kage.Unfortunately, I haven't played Kingdom Hearts so I have no clue what you're talking about. And thanks for telling me about my grammer problems and typos. I don't think I have typos though, but any grammatical errors are because MS Word can't check it very well, and I don't focus on proofreading my stuff.

-silversquall

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 6: Revelations

Flashback to the Research Center 

_"Is it dead?" asks Squall. "It's not disintegrating." _

_"I don't think it's dead, but I never thought a Weapon could be knocked unconscious," says Cloud._

_"It must have been my limit break, it's a stunning maneuver."_

_"SLEEP!" yells Squall. The spell is successful since the Weapon soon begins snoring. "That should give us some defense."_

_"Why don't we just kill it?" asks Cid._

_"OH! I get it. You're planning to get a sample for the Esthar scientists to analyze it aren't you, Squall?" asks Rinoa._

_"Right. The results may give us a weakness for these things. They're not exactly normal by any standard. Alright, watch out everyone." Squall walks to the dragon's empty hand and makes a clean slice with his gunblade, severing the forearm. Immediately as he does so, the rest of the body begins disintegrating; the particles float slowly upward. "Two of us should watch the arm," pointing at the red limb on the floor. "The rest should go and search the offices for any information that might prove useful."_

_"I'll stay," says Cloud._

_"Me too. I'll gut it if it moves," says Cid._

_"Then it's settled," says Squall._

_**Esthar Lab-Terrestrial Organisms Research Division**_

_It's a good thing I cut that sample, maybe we'll learn some important stuff after all,_ thought Squall.

Cloud, Tifa, Cid, Rinoa, Squall, Ward and Laguna were all standing in a huge laboratory. Unlike the marine research facility, this room was not painted white. A drab gray took its place, transferring a sense of gloom to the six visitors. However, the psychological effect of the color apparently did not affect the scientists who had to spend long hours in the room. The lab technician who met them at the building's entrance and guided them within the lab wore a smile that seemed to be the type that never fades. The specimen Squall had taken was obviously a very important one; their guide was not alone in his geniality.

"Welcome Mr. President, Mr. President's son, Sorceress, Otherwordly visitors. Please, come along now," said a strange-looking scientist to whom their guide had led them. "I am Dr. Cedric Florentino. I am the head scientist here. My team and I have toiled for over ten hours straight without water or food trying to understand Weapon biology. I am so glad that you have brought us that sample."

"No problem," said Squall. "What did you manage to find?"

"That the Weapon creatures have no blood."

"Right, what else?"

"We're still taking tests so nothing's concrete except for that.."

"WHAT! You spent the last ten hours working and all you found out was that they have no blood? We could have told you that! Why the hell are we here."

"Well, that wasn't the only thing. We've spent the first three hours testing the substance that we found flowing through the beast's veins."

"But," said Laguna, "You've been working for half a day without stopping. Why have you suddenly called me now for a discovery you made seven hours ago?"

"I had my division call you because that discovery has had more implications than originally believed. The work we've done here has helped to advance the progress with two other laboratories. After meeting with all of you, I was going to send you over to the Centra Research Divisison and the Ultima Research Division."

"I understand the language we found was a Centra dialect, but why are we going to the Ultima labs? What does that have anything to do with any of these."

"Because we found that, instead of blood, the liquid form of Ultima flows through the veins of this Weapon, and presumably the others as well.

The group of six stood there stunned, unable to react. None of them were able to say a word after listening to that statement. Of course, Ward couldn't say anything. All of them were thinking the same thing, however. How could a magic spell be the blood of a monster? In fact, how is it possible for it to be in liquid form? Could it even be a solid? Does that mean magic spells are actually substances?

Dr. Florentino continued, "Now come, the other scientists are awaiting all of you to read the tablet's translation. We were not kidding when we said the fate of two planets rests in the balance, and perhaps the galaxy as well."

"By the way," Squall asked, "what's the other planet you were talking about?"

"You can drop by the space center for more information. They did send us over a picture and a few important characteristics but that is all," replied Dr. Florentino as he took a rectangular device out of his pocket. It was a PACTCOMTM, the only brand of compact computers. It was a satellite phone that also doubled as a data processor, complete with high-speed Internet access. "Here, this is an image of the other planet that the tablet speaks of." The whole group turned to look at the picture. None of the residents of GAIA had a strong reaction to the planet other than it was one that could easily have been inhabited. Cloud, Cid, and Tifa recognized the planet for it was their home.

"This can't be fucking real!" said Cid, "That's our planet.

The whole group started looking at the other aliens' directions. It seems that Cloud and Squall were very connected.

Esthar Lab-Centra Research Division 

The seven visitors to the Esthar labs found the next room to be very similar to the previous one. The only difference was that ancient artifacts decorated the room. Stone images of battles, landscapes, and abstract emotions were scattered among the four walls and the ceiling. Tifa recognized them as being of the same style as the murals she found in her bedroom. The artist must have been inspired by the art of a forgotten age. She looked to see if there was an original to the ones she saw back at the presidential office, and sure enough, she found the same lion, demon, dragon, and man on the wall to the right of the lab's entrance.

"Welcome," said an albino scientist who moved forward to greet them. "I am Dr. William Riven, the one in charge here. I don't want to waste any time for time is of the essence. Follow me."

He led them over to the back of the laboratory where they saw the tablet and the piece of paper, which bore the inscriptions. The two objects were side by side on a counter, in front of the base of huge computer monitor. Dr. Riven pulled a keyboard from a rollout shelf beneath the counter's surface and began typing a series of commands. Soon the inscriptions appeared on the screen. Then, directly below each line of text was the translation:

_The Garnet Weapon lies here. The second strongest stands as a sentry over the Ultima, and it will be the first to awaken, followed by the Ultima, then the others all over the world._

Note: the language contains no articles at all.

_My power is growing as the years past. After two hundred years, I will be born again. I find that great power eventually begets great exhaustion as the fuel of myself drains away. The energy source within my being is reduced to nothing as the chaos continues, and there is not enough ether to solve this problem. After hibernating for a length of time, I will soon have perpetual energy, and therefore, perpetual power. Until then, I send my world's array of Weapons to the alien lands where there is much mana to absorb. After devastating those worlds, the Weapons will return to me, giving me the energy they have found. My elders were imbeciles; they know not what potential the Weapons truly have._

Below the introductory message were symbols, when translated, represented a plethora of numbers and calculations.

Dr. Riven explained, "The numbers at the bottom refer to very various distances and points in the universe that are used to describe the exact locations of where this mysterious character has sent his Weapons. After much figuring and guessing, we have been able to find the planet from where the speaker says he is located, and therefore exactly where the two planets are. Gaia is one of them."

"And so is Earth, our planet," finished Cloud.

"You alien visitors have seen the planet. And you recognize it as your own? Are you sure you know nothing of this character?"

"Are you trying blame us, doc?" asked Cid.

"No, no, of course out. It just seems like an odd coincidence that you three would appear here at this particular time."

"We do know where the Weapons came from, but it seems to be disproved by this tablet. Supposedly, an ancient race on our planet called the Cetra, built these Weapons to protect themselves," said Tifa.

"Did you say cetra? I wonder if those are connected to the Centra in any way," said Rinoa.

"Wait a second. We found the Ultima Weapon before the Garnet Weapon appeared. This tablet states that the Garnet Weapon would awaken first," said Zell.

"It was believed that the Ultima Weapon caused the deaths of the original occupants of the Deep Sea Research Center. They must have been excavating, discovered it, and it retaliated by using light pillar all over the place, which explained why the place was in such horrible array," said Squall.

As the others began discussing the situation, Cloud continued to analyze the translation. Then he turned over and said, "Guys, I think this is a prophecy. It's inferring that when the "speaker" is said to awaken, the Weapons will also awaken and destroy their respective worlds. If Garnet Weapon is the first to awaken, and it apparently already has, then the prophecy is now taking place."

"But isn't possible that the scientists awakened this one as they did the Ultima," asked Laguna.

"We shouldn't risk that. I say we hunt down these Weapons now. Before they corrupt this world. And when we fix the Gravitor, we can return home to fight the ones there. Most of those are already destroyed too."

"But we have two problems," said Squall, "Fighting the Weapons aren't easy, especially the Omega Weapon, which is the strongest in the world. We killed the one in the future, but the one in the present is still here. Also, we have no way of tracking down these creatures."

"Now that all of you have had this little discussion, would you please walk over to the Ultima Research Division," said Dr. Riven, "The solutions to those problems have been and are currently being addressed as we speak."

"Wow, so you guys have been doing stuff," said Rinoa.

Esthar Lab-Ultima Research Division 

The group began feeling as though they were on a conveyor belt. It seem that the Esthar scientists had already orchestrated their visit in advance. _At least they seem to know what they're doing, _thought Squall.

When they entered the facility devoted to anything Ultima, they found themselves in a dark room with only a few dimly lit lamps. A scientist walked over to them as soon as they had opened the door. He introduced himself, as Dr. Joseph Ryder, and that all the scientists had been busy preparing a PowerPoint presentation. Dr. Ryder took them over to a group of seats between many other lab technicians. The group soon noticed that much of the lab had been rearranged for the purpose of this presentation. It now resembled a cheap theater.

"Get ready guys, and pay close attention," said Dr. Ryder.

The group soon found themselves watching a presentation dealing with the chemical makeup of Ultima.

_On the projector_

Ultima, the name of the ultimate magic spell. In addition to bearing no elemental characteristic, it disregards any defense; no creature is able to shield itself from the emerald-green blast. But why is this power so strong? We must examine exactly what Ultima is. To catch the gas form of Ultima is near impossible, but with its liquid form, we can examine its constituent parts.

An image of two circles appeared. Each had a smaller, concentric circle within it.

An Ultima molecule is the result of the soulonic bonds (a white line connecting the two circles glows) between a hydrogen atom (the circle on the left glowed blue) and a gravijin (the circle on the right glowed purple).

Soulonic bonds are formed by the attraction between two groups of soulons, subatomic particles that surround the nucleus of certain atoms of certain elements (little white dots appear around the inner circles). Soulons are theorized to be the material of "soul". The substance which ancient civilizations believed to be the lifeforce of living things. Currently, all living things have been discovered to contain these particles within the majority of the molecules of which it is comprised.

The element hydrogen has an atomic number of one; therefore it contains exactly one proton and one electron. Various hydrogen isotopes do occur, containing varying amounts of neutrons in the nucleus, but these are far more rare. Hydrogen is a diatomic atom, for it only occurs in nature in pairs. 95 of all hydrogen atoms contain soulons.

A gravijin is a mysterious chemical entity that may be a component of the theorized dark matter. In laments terms, it is an element whose protons have been stripped away, possibly by combined elemental forces. In theory however, the strong force that kept the neutrons and protons together would have faded away, causing the entity to no longer exist. In rare cases, part of the force which caused the protons to be removed was the magic spell Demi, which is comprised of concentrated gravitons (theoretical subatomic particles said to cause gravity.) The Demi is held by the remaining neutrons and the electron shells, and therefore continues to exert a powerful gravitational force that manages to keep the entity together. This proton-less unit is called a gravijin.

Generally gravijins have a half-life of 7.83 minutes, but if during that period, it comes in contact with an element that contains soulons, there is a 12 chance that a soulonic bond will occur. Soulons are most common in hydrogen atoms, and among those, they are most common in hydrogen ions found in bodies of water. This explains why Ultima is generally found in some body of water.

_That explains how I obtained the Ultima material from a well, thought Cloud to himself. The Ultima draw point at the Shumi Village is probably directly above a subterranean lake, thought Squall to himself._

A reason for Ultima's power lies in the potential energy of the gravijin. The electrons of an atom can be found on different layered shells called orbitals. The first orbital of an atom can contain up to two electrons, and every shell in addition to that can contain up to eight electrons. Every previous shell must be filled completely before a new one. Electrons have the same size and mass, but differ in energy content. The electrons closest to the nucleus contain the least amount of energy. This is because it requires more electromagnetic energy to keep the electrons farther away. A strange mechanism within the gravijin allows for **perpetual energy**. The electrons are moved outward by the soulonic force, resulting in increased potential energy. Immediately after this, the Demi nucleus pulls it back in, causing a release of kinetic energy (this animation was showed on the screen).

A gravijin's half-life may be short but when it forms a soulonic bond with a hydrogen atom, the gravijin will exist until the bond is broken. As a result, the gravijin continues to pull electrons to itself as the Ultima molecule flows around. The average gravijin found in Ultima contains 12 shells (ninety electrons). However gravity should not be this possessive, since it is the weakest of the four standard forces (gravity, weak, electromagnetic, and strong). How the gravijin is able to override the electromagnetic force of other molecules is still a mystery, and my have to do with the presence of soulons (which, along with fabricons, provides the mysterious fifth force, etheonic).

Another reason for Ultima's power is the soulon. Little is known about these particles. If they truly are the source of lifeforce, than the reason for Ultima's destructiveness is clear.

These are the reasons for the energy content of Ultima. However, the Ultima spell, the gas form, is the result of the breaking of soulonic bonds, which contains a huge amount of energy. Generally, the damage done by Ultima is the result of the breaking of these bonds by way of the spell. Humans rarely see or experience the power wielded by Ultima with its bonds intact.

-fin

The lights went on in the room, and all the scientists began clapping. The seven appeared to be dumbfounded by the presentation. Dr. Ryder walked over to them and asked, "Well, any questions?"

None of the group answered. Finally, Cloud spoke up and asked, "You say that the spell is the result of the breaking of the soulonic bonds. When is it possible to experience Ultima's power otherwise?"

"By being hit with solid Ultima."

"Oh, that explains what Ultima stones are. I always thought they were stones with Ultima energy within them," said Rinoa.

"Actually, that is what they are. When I say solid Ultima, I'm referring to things like, well, there aren't very many in existence. Oh yes, an example of solid Ultima would be the blade of that young man's sword," said Dr. Ryder pointing at Squall. "The Lionheart is a gunblade made from Ultima. And I think if I got the chance to analyze his sword," Dr. Ryder said pointing to Cloud, "I would find that the blade is also made of Ultima. Solid Ultima is blue, you know, unlike the gas, which is green."

This response, as did the other revelations they had heard this morning, caused mass confusion among the group.

"Doctor, are you telling me that I have been using a blade of Ultima this entire time?" asked Squall. "I know exactly the materials used for this gunblade, and none of those were Ultima. And I don't think that the junk shop owners would have Ultima lying around."

"If I recall correctly, one of the materials needed for a Lionheart is pulse ammo, correct?"

"Oh, that's right," said Zell. "The pulse ammo is refined from energy crystals, which could refine into Ultima stones. So that means energy crystals have Ultima in them, and so do the pulse ammo. And that's also why Irvine's pulse ammo is blue. And even more, it—"

"Thanks, Zell," said Squall while covering Zell's mouth.

"And my blade," started Cloud, "came from the remains of the Ultimate Weapon. So I've been using a blade of Ultima as well."

"Look, all that's really interesting, but the guys at Centra said you techies had some sort of solution to finding and beating the other Weapons which could be walking the planet any second," said Laguna.

"Quite right. First of all, we know the chemical makeup of Ultima so we can easily assemble a device to locate large quantities of it. As for beating them..." Dr. Ryder walked over to one of the counters. He didn't seem to find what he was looking for so he motioned to another scientist to come over. After exchanging a few words, the two walked over to the wall left of the entrance. There was a lone painting on the wall, one of a huge explosion, apparently of Ultima. They removed it, revealing a vault behind it. The other scientist quickly pressed the password, gave a fingerprint scan, and a retina scan. At last, the vault opened. The scientist reached in a pulled out a red gun. It appeared to be standard pistol with an extra-long barrel that seemed to have narrow vents on the side for some odd reason. He passed it to Dr. Ryder who walked back to the group.

"This is the UB-30. We've been working on these weapons for quite some time now. This model is the first one that actually works without exploding."

"Uh, are you sure," asked Tifa.

"Don't worry we've tested it numerous times. Anyways, it's called the Ultima-Breaker. The secret behind is this new particle we recently discovered only a few years ago. Are all of you familiar with ether?"

Only the faces of Cloud, Tifa, and Cid lit up. "Oh yeah, it refills ours MP. Basically that's our energy that allows us to cast magic," said Tifa.

"Really? We cast magic by the individual quantity," said Rinoa

Before Tifa and Rinoa could start another conversation concerning their planets, Dr. Ryder cut in.

"That must be a different ether. I'm referring to the material that the ancient civilizations once believed to permeate the universe, and mediate gravity and the other forces. Other peoples believed it to be the lifeforce. Generations ago, it was only the stuff of fairy tales. However, we had already found the soulon, which we believe to be the lifeforce. That leaves the remaining component of ether, the universal medium, which we feel that we have finally discovered. We have penned this new particle a fabricon. We believe it to be the particle of which the dimensional fabric is made."

"And what does this have to do with anything destroying the Weapons?" asked Laguna again.

"One of the things we have discovered is that while soulons have a soulonic force, fabricons have a fabriconic force. Both of these appear to be opposite sides of the same coin, and we have called that coin the etheonic force. It's a theoretical force, but it makes sense. It seems to fluctuate in strength, though. Anyways, soulons and fabricons seem to be the smaller versions of the protons and electrons, which are part of the electromagnetic force. There is one key difference, however. Unlike their electric counterparts, soulons and fabricons repel one another. This may be another reason why Ultima is so powerful. The activated soulons disrupt the dimensional fabric, which is the medium of which we are a part. The point of this lecture is that since the blood of the Weapons is Ultima, which is held together by soulonic bonds, we can—"

"Destroy the bonds by shooting fabricons at the Weapon. The bonds will break, and the Ultima-blood will explode!" finished Cid. "Great job, Doc. This gun shoots fabricons doesn't it? It'll really fuck them up."

"Yes, we have been able to isolate the fabricons from several elements and store them into a tube fashioned into a cartridge. It takes a lot of work, but we managed to create 8 seven-cartridge magazines for these guns; we have five of them. That's 56 shots total, but since it causes a tremendous release of energy within the Weapon's veins, you won't need more than a couple of shots per Weapon."

"I wonder how many Weapons are there," said Cloud. "I assume our worlds have the same amount."

"Let's see, when I scanned the Garnet Weapon, it listed:Ultima, Amethyst, Opal, Topaz, Turquoise, and Omega. That totals to seven Weapons. How many have you guys fought on your planet, Earth? Unfortunately we only fought Ultima and now Garnet. Damn it, I can't believe we have to face Omega again," said Squall.

"Too bad for you guys. We got the Ultimate, Ruby, Emerald, Diamond, and the other that Junon Harbor shot down. That leaves Omega's Gemini and another gemstone," said Tifa.

"Be careful of the Omega double. He's really powerful," said Zell. "We only won because we were using invincibility items."

"We got Anti-Weapon weapons now. There's nothing to worry about," said Cid.

"I hope you're right, Cid," said Rinoa while looking at the red handguns. They looked so small. Then she turned back to Dr. Ryder.

"Wait a minute. If understand these guns correctly. That means you guys finally found a way to defend against Ultima."

"Well, not exactly. Soulons and fabricons are equal. If soulons are shot toward the fabricons, the fabricons will be knocked out of place. It depends on their velocities. The one with the greater velocity will be dominant."

"Still, if you can create a really fast fabricon launcher, you can actually stop an Ultima blast before the bonds can break and release energy. Or even a fabriconic field that's made of fabricons moving back and forth."

"Rinoa, you're really getting into this, aren't you," said Squall.

"Anyways," said Laguna, "now that we have Ultima killers, are you Ultima seeking devices going anywhere."

"Yes, Mr. President. By utilizing a gravijin and soulon based reactor, we can scan the entire planet where there are large quantities of these entities. However, we are going to need a capable reactor to implement our devices."

Everyone thought for a moment. Then Zell said, "Can't you use a Garden?"

Dr. Ryder looked upward for a moment and said, "That would work. If you can get Balamb Garden to allow us to use part of their reactors, we should be able to pull it off." Turning over to Cid, Tifa, and Cloud, he said, "Does your planet have any reactors free for use?"

The three simply smiled.


	7. Preparations

Disclaimer:Who ever made up the rule that we even have to do this? Whatever...I don't own any of the characters here, obviously.

Notes: Be warned, this will be long: It's great to be back. SORRY for the eight month hiatus, but Junior year was really tough. But now it's summer and I don't have a job so I can finally finish this. I've actually written three chapters since Monday, so I'm obviously back in the habit. Hopefully, the people that managed to read this fic will get the chance to finish it (I know I will). Sorry, guys. Anyways, I've done some requests, includingproofreading(although I'm sure it's still very grammatically flawed in the areas when I was on a run) and the inclusion of the rest of the FF7 crew (check out chap 8, and Vincent fans should get a kick out of thesoon-to-be postedchap 9). I just hate taking charge of large groups of characters, but they're here. There's really no Tifa x Cloud, because I'm not really sure where I want that to go (as you may have noticed, this fic is setting possible foundations for other stories.) Lastly, now that I have finished with Chemistry and AP Bio, I've learned that much of the scientific crap I was spouting out in the Revelations Chapter were totally inaccurate. You see, I didn't actually read the Chem book until the second semester and Bio isn't really clear on the molecular level (stupid ATP, but apparently, breaking bonds do _not_ release energy, ever) But whatever, the only important stuff is the etheonic force, and that part's imaginary, so it's accurate. ; )

Onwards to the story:

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 7: Preparations

"This place is fucking awesome!" said Cid

"Quiet down, Cid, this place is a military academy," said Tifa.

Squall, Rinoa, Cid, Tifa, Cloud, and a whole team of Estharian scientists had traveled to Balamb Garden. Since Cid wanted to see the mechanics of the fabricon-detector, he decided to travel along with the scientists. The scientists, in turn, decided to travel on the Gravitor as well because Cid was coming anyway. Squall and Rinoa tried to get Cloud and Tifa to check out the rest of the world while the detector was being built, but Cloud and Tifa simply declined, asking to see the Balamb Garden. Zell was actually sent to Esthar with eleven other SeeDs on a mission that he had nearly forgot about until Laguna reminded him after leaving the Esthar labs, so obviously he remained there.

"Squall, Rinoa, you guys are finally back!" said Selphie, dressed in a full SeeD uniform, who ran up to meet them. She gave them both a big hug, and turned to Cloud, Tifa, and Cid to do the same.

"C'mon Selphie. The group is going to leave without us," said Irvine walking up to the group. He was also dressed in the SeeD uniform.

"Irvine, you've been a SeeD for two years now, and I have never seen you wear the uniform until today. What's the deal?"

"Stricter policy. A few hours ago, Seifer was sent to fight the Trabian terrorists, the same ones you fought, Squall. Apparently, Seifer looked like an evil guy, so the Trabians he was trying to protect started attacking him. It was," Irvine looked to his watch, "only one and a half hours ago when Cid called a strict enforcement of the dress code. So now Squall, you can't wear your leather outfit and Rinoa, you can't wear your blue dress anymore."

"Alright, it was nice seeing all of you," said Selphie. She and Irvine walked off to the bridge."

"Here Estharian scientists, over here. The reactor is in the basement."

The whole group turned over to the elevator. Xu was the speaker, motioning for them to come over. "Here is the Headmaster, he will be overlooking your work on the reactor," said Xu turning her hand to Cid, who stood next to her."

Headmaster Cid brought his hand in a greeting. Cid walked up first to shake the man's hand. The headmaster smiled and said, "Cid."

"That's right. Don't you forget it," said Cid.

The headmaster looked confused for a second.

Then Cloud called out, "You must've forgotten, Cid."

"What?" said the two Cids in unison.

"What do you mean, 'What'," said the two Cids in unison toward each other.

Cloud tried again, "No, his name is Cid."

Both Cids said with rising anger, "I know my name is Cid. What are you talking about?"

Xu stuck in the conversation, "No, he didn't mean that. Cid—"

"WHAT!"

Tifa shouted, "Slow down. Now listen, Cid—"

"WHAT!"

_Ten Minutes Later_

"WHAT!"

_Fifteen Minutes Later_

"I can't believe that took so long," said Squall.

"Well if this guy didn't take my name," said Cid.

"What are you talking about? I'm older than you. You stole my name," said Headmaster Cid.

"All because you look like an old geezer doesn't mean you're that old. Anyways, so where the hell's the reactor, or is this whole place one giant reactor."

_Balamb Garden_

While the Estharian scientists were wiring the tracer systems to the Garden's core, Squall and Rinoa were giving Cloud and Tifa a tour.

"That corridor leads to the cafeteria, but there's never any hot dogs. Rumor has it that much of our supplies were stolen when we were attacked by the Galbadia Garden," explained Rinoa, "right, Squall?"

Squall was still trying to adapt to his uniform; he had not worn it in ages, and especially, not for this length of time. The belt used to hold his gunblade simply didn't fit the regulation size uniform.

"Squall, get used to it. You're stressing out more than the other girls."

"Whatever…"

Both Tifa and Cloud were oblivious to the conversation, as well as most of Rinoa's speech, since both were enamored with the sheer brilliance of the facility, which proved to be even superior than the buildings in Esthar. They were still staring at the ceiling that seemed to stretch for miles when Cid and half of the original scientists came running towards them from the elevator.

"Guys, they've all been hooked up. Some of the others are staying behind to work the system while we come back to our world to take care of the rest of the Weapons there."

Cloud and Tifa faced each other, both carrying an uneasy expression. They hadn't really wanted to leave yet. _Damn, but I shouldn't be selfish, thought Cloud_. It was not clear if it was his original plan to do so, or if it he recognized his friends faces, but whatever the reason, Cid quickly added, "Since we only have two Weapons left alive on our planet, I figured you two should stay here to back them up."

The two of them tried to dissuade Cid but he stood his ground. After a half-hour of final preparations, Cid and the other scientists entered the Gravitor, then drifted into space. Tifa and Cloud had waved them goodbye, hoping that their friends back home could fend off the looming crisis.

"Ahem, are both of you ready," asked Squall.

Behind the two citizens of earth was a group of Seeds, surprisingly out of uniform. Squall was surrounded by Rinoa, Quistis, Seifer, Selphie, and Irvine. A few inches away from the group stood Raijin and Fuijin.

"What happened to the dress code?" asked Tifa and Cloud at once.

"Cid figured that since we're not really on SeeD duty, we can be out of uniform. We mostly working for the sake of the planet right now," answered Seifer.

Cloud smiled, remembering his battle for the planet. "Let's move out."

_Midgar: Former Sector 2_

"I'm sorry, sir. The stemming process simply won't work in this particular case. The lifestream strands are too prevalent in this section, well actually, in the all of the wiring. It just won't work. This is the highest quality excavation technology we've been able to develop, but I guess it's not good enough."

"Thank you for all your hard work," said Reeve as he looked at Zane and his companions who had traveled from the Bone Village, "this _is_ excellent work, but the lifestream is too advanced. It's not your fault. Thank you for coming though."

As the workers began packing up their equipment, Reeve heard a dull roar from above. He walked from the base of the reactor and stared upward, or attempted to stare upward through the upper level that covered the slums. It was a bluish, triangular ship…

_Kalm_

Barret was playing a solitaire card game in a close friend's house, when suddenly, Cid burst through the door.

"Hey man, something's urgent, you have to come with us right away."

His entrance was followed by Marlene running through his legs.

"Hey daddy, there's a big blue spaceship outside."

"Oh Marlene, that's Mr. Cid's spaceship, remember? Now run along while we talk, okay honey?"

"Okay." She ran back through Cid's legs.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? You've only been gone for, like, three days."

"Something's come up, I'll explain everything once we get to Cosmo Canyon."

"WHAT! I can't just leave Marlene."

"Look, I now you care about her, but the planet is at stake. Not just ours, so is the alien planet."

"Well, I guess, if it's for the planet…but hey, is this their fault, cause if it is, I'm gonna—"

"Just hurry and say goodbye to Marlene. I'm sure Eric will keep track of her."

_Nibelheim: Shinra Mansion_

Vincent was still reading. He had been reading for four days now. Four days before, he had finally, after all these years, gathered the courage to read Hojo's journals. He had to know what the psychopath had actually done to his body, to Sephiroth, and most of all, his beloved Lucretia, wherever she may be. An abrupt knock on the door forced him to drop the notebook he had been analyzing.

"What?" said Vincent as he looked up.

"Trouble."

Without waiting for an explanation or giving any sort of comment other than his movements, Vincent silently walked towards the door.

_Casa Del Sol_

"Come, everyone, come and buy your cheap materia here. We have all you could every want: Fire, Meteor, Apocalypse, Steel of Sephiroth…it's all here."

"Yuffie, what the hell are you doing?"

"Cid?" asked Yuffie, dressed in beachwear and a tie as though the latter would add a business-like flair to her casual outfit.

"Why are you selling people fake stuff, and here of all places?"

"THESE ARE REAL!" yelled Yuffie who quickly turned red and turned to the passersby who stared back. She could have sworn one of them say, "Who is that blonde idiot? How could they be fake, she's as flat as a washboard."

Cid saw Yuffie reaching silently towards the shuriken behind the counter of her stand, and he quickly held her arm steady.

"Anyways, the planet is in danger. You're coming with me to Cosmo Canyon."

"I don't care. I'm running a good business. I had this one guy pay 35000 gil for an ice materia that I said was rare."

"So in other words, you're running a scam. Now look, it's not just that, the alien planet is in danger too."

"It's that big? Then of course I'm not coming. I NEARLY DIED AGAINST SEPHIROTH LAST TIME AND I DIDN'T GET ANY MATERIA!"

Cid then picked up Yuffie into the air as she attempted to kick and scream her way to freedom.

"Hey, did anyone lose anything recently?" as he looked around the area while shaking Yuffie. As he did, watches, coins, and other valuable jewelry fell out the towel that was draped around her waist.

"Hey that's my wristwatch!"

"And my necklace, some little hoodlum ripped it off my neck earlier."

In a single instant, an angry mob began to approach the materia stand.

"I knew this business couldn't be that profitable. Anyways, would like to leave now?" asked Cid in a mock-polite voice.

"Yeah, I think I'll take you up on that."

_Cosmo Canyon: Bugenhagen's observatory_

The entire group was awestruck at Cid's story, which took a quite bit of time, causing the smoking recluse shuffle nervously. He hadn't made a speech for a long while, and the extended silence of his audience was driving him crazy.

In addition to the former comrades Cid had just retrieved, Nanaki and Bugenhagen were also part of Cid's silent audience. He could understand the silences of Vincent, Nanaki, and Bugenhagen, but the other three who had continually bombarded him with questions of the abrupt pickup failed to ask any now. He was about to brandish his spear when Vincent spoke up.

"So where are these firearms of yours?" asked Vincent, looking over to the scientists who were all mesmerized by the architecture derived directly from the canyon.

"Here," replied Cid, handing him the pistol and two magazines.

"Where's the rest?"

"Well, we thought that since the other world has five Weapons, we could fight the last two that we have with just one pistol and a spare mag."

Yuffie fell over the stool she had been sitting on.

"So what are we supposed to do?"

"First we have to reopen the mako reactors in Midgar, only for now." Cid added the last comment seeing Reeve sport an incredulous look.

"Once we track down the last two weapons, we can turn them off, then go back to get the other two."

"Was there a reason why Tifa and Cloud stayed?" asked Nanaki.

"Uh, well, like I said, they've only killed two Weapons. What are you aiming at?"

"Cloud did speak of some very strange dreams. I wonder if he ever found answers."

"Oh yeah, he's actually recognized some of them. They're from the other world. And this one dude in leather's been having dreams too. Dreams about Sephiroth."

Bugenhagen spoke next. "And who was the one dressed in a white cape?"

"Oh, it was the leather guy's rival. Hey, why are you two so worried, we kinda have an urgent situation here."

Neither answered. Bugenhagen simply stood up and walked towards one of the openings in the rock that served as window. Continuing to stare out into the sunset, he replied, "I've been studying the writings of the Cetra for some time. They spoke of several prophecies, some of which I have witnessed—we've _all _witnessed. There was also one that addressed a black and yellow demon, a red and silver lion, and a dragon with scales devoid of any color, or the amalgamation of all colors, if you prefer, white. Then there was a man. A hideous being, far more brutal than any of the others. I once believed that Sephiroth was the dragon, but he doesn't fit that particular prophecy."

"So what the hell does that mean?" said Barret with a confused look.

"Wait a sec, I saw these cave paintings of those things in the other world. The demon, the lion, and all the rest of it," said Cid.

"Hmmm. How coincidental. And that will probably be the only mural that our worlds share. I feel very certain of this. I once felt something the first time Cloud came here. But I can't be sure." Bugenhagen finally turned back at the group, then to Cid. "I need to speak with both Cloud and the other who has had dreams as soon as possible."

"Well, alright, but I think we should sort out these Weapons first."

"True. But there may be a worse threat."

With that last statement, Bugenhagen left the room, leaving the others lost in their own thoughts.

"Anyways," started Reeve, "I'll contact the mechanics immediately. We've been trying to disconnect the remaining reactors that happened to survive Meteor, but we've haven't any luck. It seems that they've become part of the lifestream. We can't remove them without influencing the tectonic plates. But I'm sure they can be set in working order. I guess we should bring these scientists over there now."

"Are we all going?" asked Yuffie. "I mean what do I get?"

"We are _all_ going to stop the Weapons," said Vincent with a reproachful look. "We should all probably head on the ship along with them."

"I should be getting back to Marlene, but if it's for the planet…" began Barret.

"Then it's settled, we're all going on the Gravitor," declared Nanaki.

"I'll be going too, but I can't really come along for the fight…" said Reeve while motioning towards his suit. "I don't have the Cait Sith thing going anymore, but I'll help in anyway we can."

"Fine," said Yuffie sadly, "I'll go."

_On a distant planet_

The surface is littered with ancient ruins, reflecting centuries of decay. Within a temple located at the center of the largest city lies a tomb. Engraved upon the tomb are the murals of numerous legends forgotten to anyone in the entire galaxy, except for one, the inhabitant of the tomb, who is not dead, but simply slumbering, waiting for the exact moment when the messengers have ravaged their respective planets, finished with their job of transferring energy across the stars. Or until they perish, thus rendered unable to complete their duty. The largest image upon the coffin's lid is a white dragon.


	8. WEAPONS

Disclaimer: Really, who's going to even _try_ to make money off of fanfiction. Whatever, all rights reserved to Square-Enix, whatever the hell they're calling themselves.

Notes:Since I'm uploading this with Chapter 7 as a humble apology for the long hiatus, there's nothing more for me to say.

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 8: Weapons

_Somewhere on the plains of Winhill_

"Crap, here it comes!" yelled Seifer who had been staring at the seismograph, checking if their beacon had awakened the Weapon.

Suddenly, there was a massive rumbling, finalized with a massive fissure that produced a huge creature, approximately topaz in color. It resembled a stegosaurus, resting on all fours with a row of spikes protruding along its spine. However, it was much thinner, and its head was long and pointy, similar to that of a prehistoric flyer. The claws were like human hands, if humans had nine-inch fingers. With all these elements combined, however, the Weapon was indescribable. It also appeared to be invincible, standing at a two yard height, but with a three and a half yard length, not counting a long tail spanning several more yards, completely studded with spikes.

It did look like one thing: a yellow devil.

As Seifer raised the pistol upward to fire, the Weapon began rushing toward him, causing him to duck for cover. As Irvine held the remaining firearm to shoot the Weapon, the seemingly independent tail swung towards him, launching several barbs at the gunslinger, forcing him to duck and losing his target.

The Topaz Weapon roared, forming a yellow glow in its mouth, aiming directly at Seifer. A staff immediately swung downwards on the mouth. Fuijin followed up Raijin's attack with a well-placed wind elemental attack coupled with her zan strike into the Weapon's head. As its tail swung at them, Quistis used her whip to knock the tail backwards. While the beast was rendered unable to remove, Seifer fired a shot into the torso, causing a white liquid to spray out of the hole. The creature howled in pain. Irvine then delivered a slightly off-center shot into the Weapon's upper torso next to the neck, causing it to lose more of the white liquid.

"FLARE!" yelled Selphie, aiming the attack the toward the beast's head as well.

However, this time, the Weapon countered with a topaz colored beam that struck her head-on as well. Irvine fired one more shot while running toward Selphie, only managing to graze the leg. Quistis quickly tried to divert the creature's tail with her whip towards its own body, but she could barely hold the shock from simply detaining it.

"SHIVA, COME FORTH!" commanded Quistis with the little energy she had left.

A pillar of ice immediately appeared in the vicinity, bursting to reveal the bluish Goddess of Ice. Shiva mumbled, though quite assertively, "Diamond dust," and thrust her hands forward sending a wave of particles toward the Weapon. Anything that made contact with the dust was quickly smothered by ice (Quistis removed her whip at the very last movement.)

"Ready, guys?" said Seifer as he prepared to launch a spell. Both Fuijin and Raijin nodded. "In unison."

They each fired a tornado spell simultaneously, causing the three twisters to merge. However, instead of magnifying its size, only the spinning speed seemed to increased; the velocity of the winds appeared to be more violent. All three yelled, "TORNADO TRINITY!" The tornado rushed forward and gripped the Weapon into itself, with the beast still enveloped in ice. But the Weapon did not back down quietly. It continued to roar and shake, causing its spikes and fragments of ice to shoot outward, driven by the intensity of the whirlwind. All of the SeeDs attempted to dodge the projectiles but the posse's attack was a little bit too effective.

At last the tornado dispersed and the ice was exhausted. The Topaz Weapon lay dead and began to disintegrate. The six SeeDs were scratched and torn, but Selphie seemed to be unscathed, having obviously been blocked by Irvine.

"Well now," said Quistis in a forced tone of authority, "let's moved to the next site."

_In the mountains south of Wutai_

"Let's see now. If I push this button, it should send vibrations into the ground, awakening," said Cid, reading the manual.

"Great. The guy doesn't even know what he's doing," said Barret.

"Hey Vincent, how come we never saw this Weapon? And why is it sleeping?" asked Yuffie.

"Don't know. But to be honest, all of the Weapons were pretty much hidden, except for the Ultimate Weapon. We just ran into them by mistake. I guess after being released from the Northern Limit, most of them still just wanted to rest."

"You act like they're good people or something."

"Maybe they are good, just not acting in the way you humans would prefer them to."

"Uh, okay," said Yuffie nervously.

"Here it is, it's coming!" hollered Cid.

The ground began shaken uncontrollably. "Uh, maybe we should be going now. It's coming straight up at us."

"RUN!" yelled Yuffie. The group had managed to reach the Gravitor when a huge, blue creature burst out of the ground they had just been standing on. The Gravitor began to tip as well, and nearly fell into the chasm when Cid rushed to the control panel to active the thrusters. The ship shot out towards the ocean, but before reaching the shoreline, turned back to the opening of the canyon, just a few miles south of Wutai. It landed once more, as the four walked out uneasily.

The Sapphire Weapon was thrashing the surrounding mountains uncontrollably. It was a massive creature, spanning several stories tall, just as the previous Weapons were. It seemed to be a huge eagle, but its feathers, upon further observation, were replaced by scales. Its talons, small in relationship to the body, still held it balanced. In fact, it seemed to be very flexible in spite of the huge scaly wings that took the place of its forearms. Another distinct difference was its head. The beak was extra large, and there were horns protruding from the sides of the sparkling sapphire-colored head. It was a brilliant sight.

"Get ready, guys. Come on, Vincent, start off."

Vincent walked past the group. He turned his head behind him saying, "Why exactly are we all preparing to fight as we did in the old days. With the these new pistols, it shouldn't be much of a problem."

"What are you blabbering about, man?" said Barret furiously. "We don't know for sure if they're any good."

"Well, I trust them. If they truly do what they're supposed to do, then one shot in the heart or the brain should suffice, as with any creature."

"This is not just any creature. IT'S A WEAPON!" yelled Cid.

Vincent sighed and turned back to the raging beast. He flung his cape away from his front and pointing the pistol upward. Steadying it with his left hand, right eye closed, he fired two successive shots, one in the head, and one in the center of the upper torso. Vincent placed the gun back in his holster and turned around, sweeping his cape out of the way as well. As he walked back towards the Gravitor, the Weapon collapsed, white liquid spraying out of the wounds. As it began to disappear, the other simply stared, then turned back to Vincent, mouths open.

"Well, are you guys coming? We have to face that really hard one now."

_At the Northern Limit_

"Wait a second, I thought all of the Weapons had escaped last time. Why are we in this frickin cold," said Yuffie as she clutched her coat tightly around her summer-clad body.

"This Weapon is the most powerful. It must have continued sleeping despite Sephiroth's will. The one who spoke in the tablets, the one who controls these entities must be very powerful."

"I don't know, Vincent," said Cid, "They don't seem to be very controlled. Didn't the Cetra used to command them?"

"Yes," answered Nanaki, "But perhaps that was the plan all along."

"Ya know, you and your grandfather always talk in riddles, why?" said Barret exasperatingly.

Yuffie hurried toward the front of the group where Vincent and Cid were standing, hoping to get some shelter from the blistering winds that were freezing her skin. Nanaki was too small and Barret kept waving his gun-arm all over the place. _I wonder how Cloud and Tifa are doing._

_Above the Esthar Continent, a few miles west of Tears Point._

Cloud, Tifa, Rinoa, and Squall were riding in one of the Ragnaroks, piloted by Zell, towards the mountain ranges in the far east.

"Hey guys," said Rinoa as she entered into the cockpit where everyone was chatting about the previous encounter, "The others just called and said they already killed just finished destroy the Turquoise Weapon. That means they've already killed three Weapons while we've only fought the Opal Weapon."

"Well, they did get a head start," said Zell.

Originally, the group of SeeDs did plan to split up in their mission to stop the Weapons, but they had miscalculated the length of Zell's mission, whose team had been using the remaining available Weapon. Thus, while the other half had journeyed on with Selphie as their pilot, the remaining soldiers had to wait a few more hours for Zell to arrive at the Balamb Garden.

Squall was counting down the Weapons' names on his hand. "Shoot, that only leaves one Weapon left."

"Isn't that a good thing?" asked Tifa.

"Yeah, except that the last one is the Omega Weapon, which was nearly impossible to kill last time.

"Then how do you suppose we fight it?" asked Cloud.

"Simple, we have these items from Gilgamesh called Holy Wars. They must us invincible for an extremely short amount of time. However, if we all attack within the minute or so, we should be victorious. The Omega Weapon is really strong, but it's balanced by its relatively lower defenses. It's a good thing we had two left, one for us and one for…oh shit," said Squall as he looked into his bag.

Rinoa walked over to him and stared into the contents of the pack, "Don't tell me you forgot."

"Worse, I have two here. Damn, I forgot to give one to Cid."

_Back at the Northern Limit_

Barret, Cid, Vincent, Nanaki, and Yuffie found themselves staring face to face with a massive purple and blue creature. It was also standing on its hind legs, resembling a bear. However, it was of the highly deformed variety. Its face looked hideously mutated. The claws on the Weapon's large paws were as long as the individual paw. Where they should have been fur was a slimy, segmented surface that could only be found on a creature that had been skinned.

Vincent raised his pistol and shot twice as before, towards the heart and the head. This time, an odd thing happened. A gush of green air emanated from the creature's slimy skin, striking the bullets away.

Instinctively, Vincent raised his hand and whispered, "Sense." The command failed, and he had to leap out of the way as the six-story creature slammed one of its claws where Vincent had been standing.

"I guess it's time to fight the old-fashioned way," said Nanaki in a low growl, "I can feel it. This is Omega's alternate, the Alpha Weapon."

Barret circled the Weapon's left side, firing his gun-arm as he went. The Weapon swung his left claw towards Barret and formed a fist. With a large crack, a dozen sequential explosions erupted around Barret as he was running. He managed to dodge all of them, but the impact of some of the final blasts nearly knocked him off his feet. As he attempted to regain his composure as he stood behind the creature, a tail that had not been noticed before lunged at him.

"Take this!" yelled Yuffie who had launched her giant shuriken towards the tail causing it to crash in the ground next to Barret. Nanaki ran towards the mountain past Yuffie, trying to garner the Weapon's attention.

"Ifrit, come forth with Hellfire!" yelled Nanaki. The ground in front of the red dog exploded, revealing a green, dual-horned demon. It opened its mouth and breathed a massive fireball towards the Alpha Weapon. The flare dissipated on impact revealing not a single burn or scratch on the silvery creature.

Cid's cigarette fell out of his mouth. "Damn, this thing is more powerful than the Ruby Weapon. Out of routine he stepped on the cigarette, which had already been extinguished from the snow while it was in his mouth. "Let's see. It's pretty cold out, so maybe this'll work. FREEZE!"

The Weapon was instantly enveloped with ice, but it quickly melted away as the monster clenched its claws again, causing the torso to emanate a heating glow. After releasing its talons, it formed both into a fist yet again. This time, there were two-dozen explosions scattered around the vicinity, aimed at everyone.

_Esthar, after a relatively easy battle_

"Whew! Where did you get these Holy Wars? It's been so long…I forgot how efficient you can be when you're invincible," remarked Tifa.

"It's from an independent guardian force called Gilgamesh," explained Rinoa, "But how come you can't be invincible anymore?"

"Aeris," answered Cloud solemnly.

"Oh, sorry. Um, anyways, I wonder how Cid and the others are doing. They could have really used this Holy War, which is all Squall's fault," said Rinoa while glaring at him.

"Don't worry, Rinoa," said Tifa. "I know Cid and the others are fine. Especially Cid. He's the only one there that's got sensible emotions in times of emergency. But I wonder if the other Omega is resistant to the guns like ours was?"

_Return to the Nortern Limit_

"GOD! Somebody call for help! We're all going to die!" yelled Cid at the top of his lungs as he attempted to evade the green stream of fire that sprayed from the Alpha Weapon's mouth. Damn it! Stupid Cloud. He left with his fucking Omnislash, yet he _had_ to take the Knights of the Round materia. YOU SELFISH SON OF A BITCH! And where's my backup!"

"Cid," hollered Yuffie, who had been running parallel with him a few yards away, "I think they're finally here."

Everyone looked up in toward the ocean to see a large plane fly towards them; it was the Highwind. It circled over twice, each time sending a barrage of missiles toward the mutated-looking giant. The second wave caused the lumbering beast to fall over. As the Highwind made its exit, the fighters refocused their attacks. Barret continued pummeling the Weapon with gunfire. Cid stayed behind with his spear and helped Nanaki cast various spells at the creature. Yuffie continually fired her Conformer. As the Weapon looked quite weakened, Vincent put down the Death Penalty, and raised the Ultima-Breaker, firing two more shots. This time, both had a mutual target in the head. However, the same thing as before happened again; the green aura altered the trajectories of the bullets. As though all of the previous and currently inflicted damage was nothing, the Weapon stood up amidst the gunfire, shurikins, and magic spells, and clenched a fist in Vincent's direction. Vincent immediately tried to jump out of the way, barely slammed by one of the blasts. From the corner of his eye, he saw his second UB magazine fall to the ground. As he reached for the clip, another blast found its way there, vaporizing the magazine into a large cloud that also flung Vincent's body backwards. Then the Weapon looked at the others, who had all halted their worthless attacks to breath for a few moments. Without a growl or any sign of warning, the Alpha Weapon dove toward Yuffie as one would dive into a swimming pool. As it slammed into the snow and ice, everyone was knocked off his or her feet, including Yuffie who completely lost the surface on which she had been standing.

"HELP!"

But her screams were silenced as the Weapon slammed its huge paws on top of her.

"YUFFIE!" cried everyone else. For the first time in that battle, Cid picked up his spear, ran up to the monster, and rammed it into the Weapon's back. Alpha responded by using its right arm to backhand Cid, causing him to fly back towards the others headfirst into the snow.

Suddenly, there was a large cry: "ALL CREATION" A massive beam slammed the Weapon causing its entire body mass to zoom through the atmosphere just as Cid had done. When it had finally landed, the vibrations triggered from the crash forced everyone else to fall to their feet.

A red-faced Yuffie emerged from the crushed ice, her body covered with blood.

"Sorry, guys. That's all I got." She collapsed instantly.

"Yuffie!" yelled Vincent who ran towards her immediately.

"Vincent, we're not done yet, damn it!" said Cid. He had been eyeing the fallen Weapon was picking itself back into fighting position, without a single scratch.

"What the hell is this? Even her limit break didn't do anything to it," said Barret.

"We have to keep trying," said Nanaki.

The three approached the Weapon with fear in their eyes, waiting for the second round.

Meanwhile, Vincent was running towards Yuffie. He lifted her onto his arms.

"You alright?" he asked.

But she didn't move.

Vincent reached into one of his pockets, feeling for a feather. When he finally found it, he placed it on Yuffie's forehead.

"This is the last one I saved from the battle with Sephiroth. Phoenix Down."

But it did nothing. Yuffie remained motionless.

"Damn it, she's too far gone."

Vincent gently placed her body on the snow and turned towards the Weapon with a fierce glare in his eyes. Not a single muscle clenched, just his burning, demonic eyes.

Endnotes: If anyone cares: I didn't talk about each Weapon because I figured it would be redundant. So I simply showed the remaining FF8 characters in action, demonstrated Vincent's coolness, and rest of the FF7 group in peril. Also, Vincent fans, the next chapter's for him (it doesn't even add to the plot of this story, I don't know why I put so much into it.)


	9. Chaos

Disclaimer: whatever

Notes:Notice that I've taken liberties with what happened in the actual FF7 game, but I had to do it to extend the drama (you'll see what I mean). Plus, it allows me to work on a fic starring Vincent. I also inserted some stuff in case I feel like writing a fic about Yuffie during the events of the game itself. Sorry for anything that seems OOC or "out of gaming realism" for that matter. Oh, and for the handful of people that actually read this fic, there's approximately three chapters left after this one plus an epilogue, just so that you know what to expect. Later people.

Oh and one more thing. GundamWingFanatic90, I don't know what your question in your review means. I never described the battle with the Opal Weapon. Cloud and Tifa _are_ with the FF8 group, but that group split. Cloud and Tifa were with Squall, Rinoa, plus Zell later. The weapon I described with FF8 characters was the Topaz Weapon (all these names are so damn confusing) and the group was made of that latter (Seifer, Quistis, etc.) Squall's group was just referring to another battle that I never wrote about. At least, I think, maybe I got confused while writing.

Whatever, onward to the story:

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 9: Chaos

"Don't we have any more summons?" asked Cid desperately.

Cid and Nanaki had taken turns with all of their summon spells. Kjata, Typoon, Neo Bahamut, Hades, Leviathan, and most recently, Ramuh, had all been used. Barret mentioned he had Choco/Mog, but both Cid and Nanaki had shouted a resounding "NO," then politely telling him to continue with his barrage of bullets, of which he was now running low.

Vincent was nowhere to be found; the others had last seen him when he was cradling Yuffie, but after that he vanished.

The situation was getting desperate. No spell or summon was effective. In addition to that, after casting magic, or in Barret's case, firing a wave of lead, the Alpha Weapon would turn to any of them and clenched a fist, causing that person, or animal, to run like hell. They had all suffered several burns by now.

After another wave of blasts that proceeded after Ramuh, Cid shouted to the others, "At least he didn't dive into us, he must have been scared of the limit break. WAIT! He must have been scared of the limit break. Maybe it did fuck him up a bit, we just can't see it. Barret! The next time he does that explosion thing, let him hit you, so you can use Catastrophe."

"ARE YOU FUCKING OUT OF YOU GODDAMNNED MIND? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THING I—"

While yelling at Cid, Barret had mistimed his running. He had slammed directly into one of the explosions.

"DAMN YOU, WEAPON! EAT THIS!"

Barret immediately went into a barrage of firing after he stood up again, Amazingly, the Weapon appeared to be pushed back by this wave bullets.

"Yeah!" yelled Cid.

"Cid," called Nanaki, "Double Flare, now!"

"You got it."

Both fighters, at this point on opposite sides of the Weapon, launched a flare spell, sandwiching the monster, which was still being shot. The huge explosion caused by the Flares, cast the whole vicinity into a black shroud. Barret stopped firing at the Weapon in fear of striking his comrades.

When smog dissipated, the Weapon was found lying down on the snow; it didn't move. Nanaki cautiously strode towards the body.

"Wait," said Cid, "it hasn't vaporized yet. It might be alive."

With that comment, the Weapon stood back up, its slimy skin falling apart, with some of the pieces dripping on the floor. There were also numerous bullet holes. Suddenly, the Weapon opened its disgusting mouth and emitted a glass-shattering roar, forcing the others to shut ears. Suddenly, all of the Alpha Weapon's skin fell off the body, revealing a shiny, metallic gold and white giant. This was the true form. It was covered with scales now. When the transformation was finished, the creature roared again, creating countless green explosions to occur on the surrounding ice.

"Now we're dead," said Cid.

_In one of the ice caves at the Northern Limit_

Vincent was sitting in a meditative position within the shelter of a warm cave.

_I can't believe it. My emotions haven't escalated like this in a long time. I have to control this. But I can't stay here forever. The others need my help. But I might endanger them. I don't understand. I have not yet sustained a substantial amount of wounds, why do I feel as though I am reaching my limit? Perhaps emotional damage can trigger a limit as well as physical damage can. But if so, why I am feeling so much emotional pain. It's because I told her to come here. Cid didn't want to, but I told him to drop by the Casa del Sol to get her for this mission. I believe in her skills. When she tried to back out, I forced her to go. Why? If she hadn't come, she wouldn't be dead by now. This is my fault. Damn, I feel like I'm going to blow._

If one had been hiking for some stupid reason in the Northern regions, even miles away from Vincent's cave, one would have heard a loud scream.

_Back to the Alpha Weapon_

"What the hell was that noise?" asked Barret while running and firing, "Is there another Weapon left?"

"No, this should be the last one," said Cid while running, sporadically casting Fire 3 spells.

"I think it was Vincent," said Nanaki while using Trine.

The newly formed Alpha Weapon seemed to be faster, stronger, and had better aim with the fist-clenching blasts, although they were now initiated with a loud roar.

As Barret was running around for a clear shot, from the corner of his eye, he saw a black blade strike the Weapon, who appeared to have felt it. Barret turned towards the source of the projectile, squinting his eyes at a black figure in the distance. Before he could blink, the entity had rushed towards the Weapon, standing only a few feet away the Alpha Weapon.

"Guys, it's Chaos!" warned Barret who quickly ran to the opposite side of the Weapon. Nanaki and Cid followed suit with Cid exclaiming, "Oh shit."

The Alpha Weapon had now focused all of its vision towards this mysterious new opponent, turning its back to the other fighters. It now faced a creature that could only be described as resembling a devil. It was Chaos, the final limit break and the strongest demon that existed inside of the one called Vincent Valentine.

Chaos stared at the Weapon with its deep, murderous eyes, and yelled in a clearly inhuman voice, as though a body without a soul was speaking, "Satan Slam."

Instantly, the snow beneath the Weapon protruded in the shape of a skull pushed against creature. The icy mouth then opened, causing various ghostly apparitions to emerge, all of them attack Alpha. The giant roared again, except this was not the precursor to an attack, but rather, it was an actual cry of pain. Before the Weapon could counter attack, Chaos fired several more of the chaos sabers into its torso. Enraged, the Alpha Weapon began to lumber over to the hell spawn, swiping its massive gold claws toward the head. But Chaos was much to fast; he took flight and soared back and forth to dodge the attacks. The Weapon roared again, waving its paws in circles. Suddenly, a green light enveloped Chaos and exploded. It was the Ultima Spell. As the green cloud lifted, Chaos continued to stand albeit a few scars were present. Chaos immediately rushed towards its attacker and delivered a series of slashes, finalized with a final blow that knocked the Weapon literally off its feet. Chaos then flew on top of the Weapon's stomach. Without a second to spare, Chaos slammed its claws into the torso and spoke in the same empty voice, "Hellish Killquick." A flash of yellow light suddenly radiated from the embedded claws, and both Chaos and Alpha were enveloped in a blinding yellow light. Cid, Nanaki, and Barret were virtually blinded, except for the instantaneous shadowy movements from within the glow. It seemed to last for a lifetime, but it was only a few moments before the light vanished. The Weapon was still on its back, but now it truly seemed dead with tear marks scattered across its gold and white skin. Chaos stood victorious with its back facing the three. Then it turned.

"Oh shit, now it's looking at us," said Barret desperately, who had now finished reloading his gun-arm. Nanaki bared his teeth, and Cid gripped his spear.

Chaos dove after the three and began to slash them with its claws. Barret knocked them away with his gun-arm, Cid deflected them with the tip of his lance, and Nanaki attempted to bite them away. Apparently tired of the fight, Chaos launched three Chaos Sabers at them. The blows knocked all three of them into the snow. As Chaos moved over for the kill, a large voice rang out.

"STOP IT, VINCENT!"

_Flashback to the Temple of the Ancients_

_"Cloud?"_

_"Yeah, Barret."_

_Barret turns uneasily towards the others sitting in various places, then looks at the entrance to the resting chamber the group had just entered. He continues to whisper._

_"Do you really think this Vincent guy should have come with us?"_

_"Why not? He's been a great help, especially with his limit breaks."_

_"Well, we don't really know who the hell he is. He hasn't told us anything, except that he's obviously here on our quest because of Sephiroth. But he doesn't like a trustworthy guy."_

_"Look, did I seem trustworthy when you first hired me for Avalanche? Now the real reason you're worried."_

_"It's," starts Barret who nervously looks around the room once more, "his limits. I know their strong, but with every new transformation that he acquires, he seems stronger _and _more uncontrollable. What if he begins to attacks us?"_

_"I know you're worried, but I told you already. I trust everybody, even Vincent."_

_"I hope you're right."_

_Flashback to the Northern Cave, shortly before the fork_

_"Dang it, what is this monster? It's not a normal Tonberry," says Cloud._

_Nanaki finishes executing an attack and runs back to the main group._

_"It's called a Master Tonberry," says Nanaki._

_The white-skinned Tonberry then runs up to Vincent and stabs him while mumbling, "Everyone's Grudge." Vincent falls to the floor and clutches his wound._

_"Vincent, are you all right?" asks Yuffie._

_Vincent doesn't answer and simply looks upward with a murderous stare. His body suddenly transforms into a demon form. His black clothes fade into his body, while the open skin darkens. His hair splits to form into horns. His cape divides in two to form wings. His emotionless eyes become red and cruel._

_"I am called Chaos," says the mysterious new limit from Vincent, derived from an item, which he had just recently received from Lucretia, or some form of her, who appeared within a hidden grotto._

_The new creature suddenly rushes towards the Tonberry who had stepped back after the attack. Saying, "Satan Slam," the ground erupts into the shape of a skull, which instantly killed the monster as it makes contact with the flashing of the glowing eye slots in the mysterious skull shape._

_Everyone begins to congratulate Vincent, but he is not Vincent. Chaos turns around and throws several dark sabers at every member of the group. They all shout for him to stop. He had never actually attacked them up until now. After finishing with the tosses, Chaos flies towards Nanaki and begins to thrash the animal. Sustaining much damage, Nanaki retaliates with a sled fang, which fails to hurt Chaos in any way. Chaos then shifts his attacks to the others individually. At last, during his attacks towards Cloud, Yuffie yells for him to stop. She lifts her giant shuriken, runs over to Chaos, and slaps—not cut—its face. Chaos turns its face back to Yuffie and collapses. His body changes back to that of Vincent's a few moments later._

_When he finally awakens, he refuses to say anything. He whispers an apology and begins to walk away from the group. Yuffie tries to call him back, but Vincent does not turn. She starts to run after him, but Cid holds her in place. Cloud shouts an exclamation that it was not his fault, and that they were all thankful for his help. The others nod encouragingly and add to Cloud's support. Vincent does not stop, but says, "It is not my fault for I did not know what I did. But it was my body, and therefore it was my sin. If I stay, I will only add to my list of sins for which I have yet to atone." He did not turn back._

_Back to Reality_

"VINCENT, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

Chaos turned to his side. A few yards away, Yuffie was limping over to the direction of their weakened comrades. She was covered with wounds, and she appeared to be in critical condition.

"You can't do this to them."

Amazingly, Chaos fell to the floor, its dark skin oozing into the ice. After a few seconds, Vincent had appeared on the ground. He opened his eyes and looked to Yuffie.

"No wonder the Phoenix Down didn't work. You weren't even close to beingdead, were you?"

She smiled and said, "Nope, I won't die that easily. Too much materia to collect." Yuffie turned to the others. They wore real smiles in spite of their wounds, and thankful she (and them) was alive. "I guess we should all head back now. I'm hungry."


	10. Bugenhagen

Disclaimer:I don't own anything in this story, even the stuff that I made up, because it's all based on stuff that I "borrowed" from the original games, various movies, and even Street Fighter's Akuma.

Notes:Let's see, I last updated on this fic on the 25th of June, oh well. Here's another chapter. Enjoy! Also, please view the notes following this chapter.

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 10: Bugenhagen

_Esthar Presidential Office_

The SeeDs, Tifa, and Cloud were standing in various places surrounding Laguna's desk. They still were pacing back and forth as they did the day before. It had been five days since Operation Weapon Waker had been initiated. The combined forces of Gaia had managed to perform their task of defeating five Weapons in a little less than two days, with some of them spending another day in the hospital wing. The group that was supposed to fight the two Weapons on the other planet, the group for whose skill Cloud and Tifa had vouched, had still not returned to Gaia.

"Damn it, I should have come back to help them," said Cloud who had actually said those same words several times in the past two days.

Squall replied, as usual, "It's my fault. I can't believe I didn't give Cid the other Holy War.

The group had all been planning for the combined trip to the mysterious planet that supposedly housed the one who controlled the Weapons, but their diligence in that task was extremely worthless in the current situations. Everyone was worried, mostly Tifa and Cloud; both felt that they had abandoned their friends.

Laguna continued to think of comforting words, but in two days, he had still failed to say anything more than: "would like a cup of tea?" or "nice weather we're having."

Suddenly, the phone on his desk began ringing.

"Hello?"

"Mr. President, the Gravitor has been sighted," said Gavin from LITS.

"Ah, yes, thank you, wait, WHAT?"

"Uh, Sir, the Gravitor has been sighted, you know, the one with the aliens who came to visit recently."

"Oh, okay, just checking, can you please relay a transmission telling them to meet with me at the Presidential Office. They should know where it is by now."

"Of course."

Laguna excitedly placed down his phone and turned to the others. "They're back." There was a slight pause. Tifa smiled and said, "Thank God," and everyone else quietly joined with verbal indications of relief.

Twenty long minutes later, the door leading into the office was knocked twice.

"Come in," said Laguna.

The doors opened, revealing Cid, followed by a Black man with a gun for his right arm, a red dog-like animal, a creepy man clad in red and black, a girl dressed in shorts and a green tank top, and lastly, a man in business attire.

"Hey guys, glad to be back. We would have come earlier, but the Alpha Weapon was a really tough, so we had to rest for a few days. Anyways, here's the group," said Cid, motioning to the others behind him.

_On a distant planet_

A loud, human-like scream can be heard for miles. The source is the tomb bearing the graphic of a white dragon. The lid of the coffin begins to budge…

_Inside the Gravitor, flying above Balamb_

The new group from Earth had spent the last couple of hours getting to know the aliens. Everyone had agreed to take a quick break and pause to enjoy the views of Gaia from the air. Although it was originally planned to immediately venture towards the unknown planet, Nanaki told Cloud and Squall about Bugenhagen's wishes to meet with the both of them.

"Knowing him, he'll probably have answers about the dreams. By the way, have you continued to have these dreams?"

"Actually, no," said Squall, who was trying to get used to the fact that he was speaking to an animal, "But who is this Bugenhagen?"

"He's a wise man, also my grandfather," answered Nanaki, immediately adding upon seeing the bewildered look on Squall's face, "but he's a human." The final comment did nothing to soothe Squall's befuddlement.

The others were all trying to have one last period of relaxation before the great fight. They were talking, taking naps, or just lounging around. A few, like Tifa and Zell, spent the time being active, in this case, they continued to duel, with the others casting bets on the winner. Reeve was speaking to Quistis, Seifer, Raijin, and Fuijin about the Gardens and the way they generated energy. Unfortunately, they replied that no one really knew how the systems worked; they had been created from a super intelligent civilization of the past.

"If our Centra and our Cetra are one and the same for some odd reason, why couldn't there be some Gardens on our planet?" asked Reeve rhetorically.

Cid, putting the ship on autopilot, was examining the coordinates of the alien planet, tapping into the satellite imaging as well.

"Hmmm, does it look threatening?" asked Cloud, who was looking over Cid's shoulder at the various angles of the planet.

"Can't tell, but it does look like a ruined planet though, pointing to massive areas of debris on the surface. Speaking of it, we should get going soon," said Cid switching on the intercom.

"Attention everyone, time's up. I'm going to drop off the residents of Gaia in order to get their affairs in order, except for Squall that is, who has to speak with one of the elders from our planet. We're going to head back to our world, then immediately return here to retrieve all of you for the battle. I will be landing in ten minutes' time."

His speech was followed by mock-war cries (though the loud ones were primarily from Seifer, Raijin, Zell, and Irvine), derived from intense feelings of nervousness. They were all trying to mask the fears they held inside. Over the course of the last couple of hours, they had all agreed that the Weapons were very powerful, especially the Alpha and the Omega. Upon realizing that, they wondered what type of power could exert control over such fearsome beasts.

_Cosmo Canyon: Bugenhagen's Observatory_

Once again, everyone nestled around the small, but comfy room below Bugenhagen's telescope. On this occasion however, only Squall, Cid, Vincent, Nanaki, Tifa, and Cloud were present. Barret had wished to return to Marlene, Yuffie wanted to continue her profitable business at Casa del Sol, and Reeve was immediately called to return to Midgar to solve an urgent problem regarding a lifestream leakage into one of the slums. There were some people that still tried to live in those poor, ruined areas, no matter how much Reeve tried to relocate them in suburban towns, such as Kalm.

Nanaki was lying on the floor next to Bugenhagen's chair. Vincent had taken to standing in the far corner. Cid was leaning on the sofa on which Cloud and Tifa were sitting. Lastly, Squall found himself a comfortable doorjamb. After a few minutes of silence, the elevator that reached the telescope in the above room came down, revealing the mystical Bugenhagen.

When he emerged from the platform he carried a smile, then instantly clenched his teeth and shut his eyes in pain.

"Grandpa, are you okay?" said Nanaki who quickly rushed to his side.

"I am fine, child. I was just, surprised, I have never seen anything like this in all my years," said Bugenhagen, who stared at Cloud, then Squall, then Cloud again. Suddenly, his eyes darted to Vincent, who politely said, "What?" Bugenhagen closed his eyes and shook his head, turning back to the other two.

"Nothing, just my imagination. I thought I saw something. Anyways," said Bugenhagen, addressing Cloud and Squall again, "I have called the both of you here today, Cloud and the one called Squall from the planet called Gaia, because your destinies are intertwined, in a way that few are able to claim. There is an amethyst line connected your souls."

"Okay," said Squall, "what does that mean exactly?" He turned to the others, thinking they had known Bugenhagen long enough to understand his assertion. But obviously, from the confused expressions on their faces, they did not understand the old man's words anymore than Squall did. Even Nanaki looked as though he wished to ask his grandfather a question of clarification.

"Don't worry," started Bugenhagen who had looked to the others, "I know those words are unfamiliar to all of you, even those of you who belong to this world."

He paused for a moment, as though he was choosing his words carefully.

"It is an ancient skill, an ancient study derived from the Ancients, the Cetra, to examine the elements of reality. Whether it is the stars and planets of the universe, or the souls and emotions of social relationships between people, a small, but highly advanced class of scholars would be able to visualize and examine these elements. It takes experience, much wisdom, and much training. It also requires an innate sensitivity to the way things truly are. I have been lucky enough in my long life to fill these requirements, and see the elements of the world. Consequently, I can see the souls of different individuals."

Bugenhagen paused, allowing his words to permeate his audience. Confusion was found apparent in their eyes, even those of Vincent.

"I apologize for digressing, but can you see my soul?" asked Vincent.

"Vincent, your soul is surrounding by light. You must quit worrying, for the biological changes that have been inflicted upon you have nothing to do with the nature of your spirit."

Squall turned a questioning eye to Cloud, who subtly waved his hand side to side, signaling him not to inquire further.

Cloud then asked, "So what have you discovered that requires for Squall to be here? What exactly is an amethyst line?"

"Everyone, you must obviously realize how you have all affected each other in some way. Your paths through life have been drastically tilted by some action committed by another. All forms our life our connected in some way. Every move we make in life will transmit to every other entity in existence. The ramifications are difficult to see, obviously, but there are a near-infinite amount of results that stem from choices. The souls inside of us, observed by those who can see them, do not dwell entirely within us. They are constantly moving, but," Bugenhagen paused again, wearing a small expression of frustration, "but they are all together. What I'm trying to say is that, our souls are all adjacent at the same time, even when our physical forms may not be close."

Squall suddenly shouted, "That's it! It works. That's how soulons work!" Seeing how his abrupt interjection coupled with a mysterious new word perplexed everyone else in the room as when Bugenhagen coined the phrase "amethyst line", he explained, "Our scientists on our world have discovered two new particles. You've all heard of protons, quarks, and all that, right? There are also fabricons and soulons. Soulons are what makes soul, and fabricons form the dimensional fabric. The scientists have found that they repel each other, which is why Ultima is so powerful. It's full of soulons and so hurts, um, the dimension, the reality in which we live. That must mean then even when there's a small amount of soulons, there's a tiny tear in reality, and that's how all soulons are connected, which is why all life isconnected."

This new revelation, which was rapidly stacked upon the equally enigmatic declarations delivered by Bugenhagen, didn't startle the group as much as it bewildered them. These new pieces of information given by Squall and Bugenhagen seemed so strange, and so meaningless at the moment.

As the silence following Squall's speech continued for a few seconds, he quickly apologized to Bugenhagen.

"It's quite all right. That is truly new to me. Now that you all have the concept of the connections between life understood, somewhat, try this. Lives that are tremendously close—friends, lovers, family, or even rivals—are linked by "lines", which, listening to Squall, I believe these lines are made of free-flowing soulons, or perhaps some even stranger cosmic force. I see these lines between people. They are all different colors. Some colors depict love, some hate. But reading documents left behind by the Centra, there is a color that I had not yet seen until I met Cloud several years ago. But as with some lines, I am unable to see the recipient of the line if the person is not present. But now, looking at both of you, Cloud and Squall, I see an amethyst line. I have to admit, it's not as clear as other lines, it's rather fuzzy actually, but it's there. But since you are all wondering what it means, I will tell you now. An amethyst line is the most rare of all lines. According to the Centra records, there had been no one in the history of this planet to bear the mark. Rather, an outwardly visitor who appeared during their time carried the line. Anyways, the existence of the line represents a bond between two or multiple people whose destinies are linked in such a way that there will come a time in their lives when they will help decide the fate of the universe. The closeness of your destinies, the closeness of your souls, is probably the reason why you both have been having dreams regarding the other's past. Both are you are approaching a vital battle in the destiny of the universe and everything within it."

Bugenhagen smiled and finally stopped talking, leaving everyone else even more lost that before, especially Squall and Cloud.

"But do not worry, the amethyst line is not referring to the immediate battle. I have decoded several puzzling prophecies and I have found that—,"

He was interrupted by an alarm. It wasn't an electronic one, but a man shouting "ALARM" at the top of his lungs from the campfire at the canyon's bottom. Everyone immediately exited the Bugenhagen's tower and walked towards the cliff.. However, rather than looking at the source of the sound, their attention was focused at the majestic view before them. There were massive tornados sweeping far beyond the reddish horizon. Trees were uprooting, tossed indiscriminately miles into the sky, then slammed downwards only to brought up once more before touching the ground. They had not yet reached the canyon, but judging from their rapidly increasing size, it didn't take expensive equipment to prove that they would arrive in less than an hour.

"Guys, uh, look over to the west," said Tifa.

The ocean west of Cosmo Canyon, although they couldn't actually see the waves, had countless hurricanes swirling. Water twirling upward was evidence of the twisters' source. Unlike the terrestrial variety, these were moving away from the canyon. However, its occupants were not relieved. These were proof that the winds must be everyone.

"You don't think?" asked Squall.

"It's gotta be that thing that can control Weapons," said Cloud, "Hey, wait a sec, where's Cid?"

"Hey you guys!" yelled a voice from the bottom of the canyon. It was Cid, standing at the Gravitor. "I just checked the coordinates. These storms are all coming from that one planet. The Esthar guys gave uploaded the information to the ship's computers, and that's where it's all pointing to. It doesn't make any sense, but the readings show only that. There is an intense gravitational pull a few hundred miles around the planet there, but suddenly, some very strange forces are acting around our planet, but only on the areas facing the other planet. We have to go NOW."

"Crap," said Squall, "we don't have time to get the others."

"Don't worry," said Vincent, "I'm sure they have their hands full. I'm betting these tornados are on your planet too."

"So I guess it's just us six," said Cloud, looking around.

"No," said Tifa.

"What are you talking about?" asked Cloud

"There is too much destruction going on. As the former saviours of the world, we have a respect that no military force has on this planet. Someone has to evacuate everyone to safety."

"But…"

"She's right," said Nanaki, "You are definitely the strongest of all of us, especially with your Omni-Slash. Squall's not from here, and Cid has to pilot the ship. I've also heard great things about Squall. His power seems to be enormous, besides, who else except someone of your fighting caliber could share an amethyst line with you."

"But how will you guys travel?' asked Cloud in a desperate attempt to bring his comrades along.

Suddenly they had noticed Vincent was missing because he had executed a massive jump onto the cliff from below and stood before them.

"I just finished speaking with Cid. I was correct in my thinking that he has the Highwind around him at all times on this planet. We can use that to fly around and pick up any loose stragglers who are in danger."

"See, Cloud? It'll work out this way, trust me," said Tifa.

"But don't you think this new enemy will be really powerful?" asked Squall, "We need all the help we can get."

"But if we don't save the people here, there would be no point in you guys defeating this creature."

"If we don't stop this alien from the other planet, there is no hope for anyone," said Cloud.

"WOULD YOU GUYS HURRY AND GET DOWN HERE! WE DON"T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" yelled Cid.

"Just go and win," said Tifa speaking directly at Cloud this time, "Besides, Squall has one holy war left. I believe in you guys. Even though this thing controls the Weapons, I don't think he can be much stronger. Otherwise, he wouldn't need them. He's either weaker or has the same amount of power. Either way, he's just another bad guy, You three can do this. Especially you, believe in yourself."

"All right. Let's go, Squall," said Cloud.

Squall and Cloud quickly went into the mountain to climb down towards the Gravitor.

Then Nanaki noticed Bugenhagen was smiling.

"You seem confident in their success, Grandpa."

"Of course. It will be impossible to fulfill the prophecy written about their amethyst line if they die in this fight. That battle will come another day, but the final tablets are missing so I cannot be sure about the results with the demonic man. However, I do know that they will succeed in this one."

"We should be going now, Tifa," said Vincent,

"Right," said Tifa absentmindedly. She was looking at Cloud and Squall, who had both climbed down the ladder and were walking onboard the vessel.

Endnotes:

This is the first time I've done this, but it takes a little bit more thought so I put it afterwards so you can read the chapter without having to do this. I was going to put it out on gaiaonline but it's down. Anyways, I need some information for my new fics after this one. Some require actual facts from the game that I forgot. Some require your well-reasoned and feasible guesses. PLEASE REVIEW THIS FIC FOR THE SAKE OF ANSWERING AT LEAST SOME OF THESE. I IMPLORE YOU ALL.

1.How old is Sephiroth? (take into account Vincent's age, even if you don't belong to the school of FF7 fans who feel Vincent is Seph's father)

2.How many years before the game FF7 did the incident at Nebilheim (sorry, never could spell this correctly) occur?

3.Where do the members of SOLDIER train? (anyplace in the world, if Midgar, where in there?)

4.How old is Vincent? (is he truly 27 as the instruction booklet says? see question 1)

5.How is it possible for Sephiroth to be whatever age you put in question 1? (give me anything, whether it being his growth is accelerated from Jenova cells, or Vincent was 27 before his experiments, whatever)

6.Do you think Sephiroth died at the incident at Nebilheim? If not, what happened exactly?

7.What the hell happened with Lucretia?

Thank you for reading and please answer these questions, at least the one about the years between the incident and the present day.

Later,

silversquall


	11. Lord

Thanks, Vampiric Priestess, for answering some of the questions. Hopefully Gaia will yield me the remaining answers. Here's the second-to-last chapter. Still kind of slow, but it's only prologue to the final chapter, called "Showdown." Later people.

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 11: Lord

After the ship slipped through the dimensional tear, the three occupants soon found themselves soaring over a massive planet, bigger than the two in which they lived. It looked very much like a habitable planet for it was splattered with blue oceans, reddish-brown mountains, and rampant greenery; the satellite readings had also confirmed the air to be breathable for humans. It made sense. Obviously, the Cetra, for whatever reason they chose to send groups to another planet, they had to find suitable planets to match their original home. Though it was probable that their technology was not that advanced, they must have managed their way through space with the use of powerful magic.

As the Gravitor made its way into the atmosphere, the crew could now see the actual surface. It was clearly not a technologically sophisticated race. Ruins of stone castles, temples, and high walls (apparently marking territories as they usually contained one castle) could all be seen. There were also numerous huts made of straw and clay. There was no metal. However, Cloud and Squall found the absence of any people to be odd. Perhaps the entire Cetra race had left their home. The two stared closer at the landscape finding the ruins were all remnants of violence. They attempted to search for people but the ship had begun to sway since their entrance to this mysterious world.

"What's the problem, Cid?" asked Cloud.

"What the fuck? This damn thing won't fly right. According to the ship's sensors, gravitational force is changing radically every few seconds. It goes up and it goes down and then up again. The ship's terradaptors can't change fast enough to fit the conditions because they keep fluctuating. I can't control the ship like this."

Squall stared at the deserted lands outside the Gravitor's window, still unable to see anything of interest. How were they supposed to find this mysterious being anyways? Then it hit him.

"Cid, can you locate the core of the gravity?"

"Well, come on, it's gravity, the whole planet causes gravity. You're not that old, but didn't at least graduate from high school? You should know that."

"No, Cid," said Cloud, "If the gravity keeps changing, it might be because of the Weapon guy."

"Look guys, gravity doesn't work on small things. Second, he shouldn't even be awake. Remember, he can only awake if his Weapons absorb enough mana, lifeforce. They barely killed anything before we got to them."

"Maybe the deaths woke him up. They have to be linked somehow. Besides, we don't even know if it's a Centra," said Squall, "He might be a Weapon gone rogue."

"I don't think a Weapon could have that much intelligence," said Cloud.

"Whatever guys, I'll just check the center, I don't even know why this ship can do that, it's such a pointless function. Okay here we go. The source of the gravity, which is right…no this can't be."

Rather than marking the center of the three-dimensional display of the planet, a glowing red beacon was lighted on the planet's surface, 376 miles away from their location.

"Fine, I'm wrong. That must be where we need to go."

The ship continued to fly to the destination on autopilot. Everyone was preparing for the looming battle ahead. Cid and Cloud were checking their materia combinations while Squall was reassessing his magic stores.

"…mega-all, full-cure, linked…" mumbled Cloud.

"…flare, quadra-magic, damn wish I had that last time, another flare, MP Turbo…" mumbled Cid.

"Dang it, haven't cared about magic since the battle with Ultimecia. All I have are a couple of curagas, a couple of firagas, one meltdown, and a sleep. I don't even have an aura. Why didn't I refine some from Zell's fury fragments earlier?"

Squall had been planning to meet with Bugenhagen, then return to his world to organize his magic. Now, he had zilch.

In the mist of their last-minute organization, the intercom automatically said in a female voice, "_Attention, we will be above the destination in T minus three minutes._"

"You all ready for this?" asked Cloud with a nervous grin.

"I was born ready," Cid responded with a menacing spear thrust, which nearly struck Squall's back.

"Well, I have a holy war. But that's about it," said Squall, looking at this equipment. He was still carrying one of the Ultima Blasters, but it would be useless here.

The three suddenly noticed that the ship was slowing down and stopped, hovering over a large marble temple, covered with alien weeds. The temple was still white, however, and if it were not for the foliage, one could swear that it had just been constructed. It had been built upon a large, green plateau, a few miles above the ground level. The Gravitor landed toward the supposed entrance, assumed due to the brick path that lay before it and continued down the hill.

Cloud, Cid, and Squall cautiously made their way out of the ship, walking slowly along the path. It was difficult due to the gravity. At some points, they had to strenuously push forward, other times, they could virtually glide across the grass towards the temple. They had assumed it was a temple because the ruins were familiar, an ancient style reserved for religious edifices. Large pillars nearly twenty feet high marked the perimeter. Behind them were walls that seemed to render the columns' use worthless. Above the walls and pillars was a roof in the shape of a triangular prism, with the triangular faces looking towards the front and the rear of the building. The face at the front bore murals of battle, but it was difficult to discern the purpose. At last they had reached the temple's entrance. A large double-door as high as the temple itself served as the barrier between the outside and what lay within. There was no handle.

"So, how do we get in?" asked Cloud to no one in particular.

"Can't we just knock it down?" said Cid in a tone inferring that the solution was obvious.

Squall had said nothing and continued staring at the doors. In the center of each door, approximately 10 feet up, was a circle 1 foot in diameter. Within the circle was a dragon, a replicated image of the ones in the murals.

"Hey, those are the ones in Bugenhagen's prophecies," said Cid.

"What prophecies?" said Cloud and Squall simultaneously.

"Bugenhagen was going to explain them to you guys before the storms hit, remember?"

"Damn, they could have been helpful," said Squall, "But at least this is the final battle."  
"Unfortunately, we can't just tell this thing inside that we have to win so he'll let us," said Cloud.

"Either way, we have to figure out how to get in," said Cid.

"Hold on, I've seen this in a bunch of video games. One person has to touch one of the circles while the other has to touch the second circle at the same time," said Cloud.

"Uh, okay. Let's give it a shot," said Cid, "One of you can boost the other, but I should be able to jump that high."  
Squall then boosted Cloud above his shoulders, allowing him to place his entire palm over the dragon graphic.

"On three, Cid. 1…2…3!"

At '2', Cid had soared upward, timing his hand alongside Cloud's moment of impact. The instant both hands had touched the circles, the crack between the doors began to expel dust, and both doors slowly moved outward. Cloud, Squall, and Cid quickly ran out of the way, but immediately walked through the opening as it expanded. They found themselves in an elaborate building of some kind, but the lack of light discouraged the use of eyes. Cid silently cast fire towards various candles in the massive hall as they walked past them, illuminating more and more. They finally realize they were walking through an elaborate morgue. Coffins lined shelves, which decorated walls. Since the building was nearly 20 feet high, there were several coffins on each wall vertically. They continued to walk through tomb when they finally reached the end, where a much larger coffin was laid on a huge platform centered evenly between the sides, barely touching the rear wall. They would have opened it, but there was a figure sitting cross-legged above the marble casket. He was hidden in the shadows, which Cid immediately removed by casting fire on the final candles. The light revealed a man no different from any of them. His hair was long and flowing behind him. Even though he was sitting, the hair dropped to the floor. He was clad in a white robe of some alien fashion. It appeared to be light and flimsy, but not overly large for its wearer's size. Soon it struck Cloud, Cid, and Squall all at once that the clothes worn by this mysterious person was a death gown, now worn by someone who seemed healthy, unlike a corpse. His eyes were still closed, and his hands were placed together in a prayer position. In spite of all this, he seemed perfectly normal, except for one final detail. He was completely white. His skin and hair blended perfectly with the purity of his clothes and the coffin on which he was sitting. He could have been a ghost.

"I don't like this very much," said Cloud, "He seems like a ghost."

"I am alive as any of you three," said a strong, yet calm and quiet with a perfectly middle-pitch.

Squall, Cid, and Cloud all jumped back a little when they heard the mysterious voice.

The figure opened his eyes, revealing glistening silver irises and intensely black pupils. "I am the one you have all come to find. I am the Lord of Weapon." He stood up on the platform showing his full height. His hair still touched the floor even though he was clearly above seven feet. He was quite skinny, but his body emanated the aura of contained power.

"So what are you exactly, what's your real name, and what happened to this planet?" asked Cid apprehensively as he tried to expel all of his wonder.

"I am a Cetra, a citizen of this planet, Planet Cetran. My real name is Lord of Weapon. If you are referring to my birth name, it is worthless. This planet's conditions," he paused with a chuckle, "is actually in much better shape than they ever believed it to be. Several millennia ago, this was a prosperous architectural race known throughout the galaxy. The Cetra and the Centra, they're both geographic variations, were extensive users of magic. Different styles, but nevertheless, they were both equally unrivaled in the galaxy. In their progress to create more and more prominent structures for other worlds, they crafted special beings with immense power to help them in their work, the Weapons.

"Wait, you're telling us that the Weapons were building instruments?" asked Squall, "Then why are they so powerful? And why are they called Weapons?"

" 'Weapon' in our native language refers to any sort of tool. They are powerful because as you all should already know, is due to the ultima that flows within them. The Cetra and the Centra wished to create beings that could continually be powered from the planet in which they lived. However, as I grew older, I found that these ideas were worthless. My people, the most powerful mages in the galaxy, armed with the strongest biological creatures in the galaxy, were fit to become the architects of the galaxy? It was absurd. We should have taken control, but even as a prince, I had no true political power. None of the elders sided with me, and none of the other princes dared to agree with me either. So that is when I decided to do things myself. I forged a bond with the Weapons so they would be in my employ, a bond that could not be broken until I was killed. Then, I went to destroy this stupid planet. I ravaged the lands with my power, aided by the Weapons who continually absorbed the lifeforce of this planet. No one could stop us. But eventually, someone had the intelligence to silence me. A phalanx of high-level mages cornered me and sent me into a sleep for they could not overcome me. They could have killed me then, but they probably felt it was too dangerous. However, being in a coma, the Weapons were freely controlled again. By that time, the planet had been all but exhausted of its energy. The people decided to leave. But disagreement broke out. The Cetra saw the usefulness of the Weapons and wished to use them as defensive measures. The Centra wanted them to continue as tools. Thus, the two groups split and journeyed to their respective planets with a set of Weapons. Thankfully, otherwise I would not be standing before you today, the Cetra carried out their plans and placed them in the northern limit, placing them in direct contact with the planet's lifestream, energizing immensely, thus giving me the power, which you meddlers nearly eliminated by destroying my Weapons.

"But I don't understand," began Squall, "how do you know all of this? And how come they didn't destroy you, and how can you be filled with energy from the Weapons?"

"The bond that I created."

"What bond?"

"I removed every drop of blood from my body and replaced it with Ultima. That's why I'm so white. I'm sure you've all discovered that liquid Ultima is white. Furthermore, my body is unlike yours anatomically. Ultima is a suitable replacement for blood. By sharing some Ultima with the Weapons, we were as one."

Cloud, Cid, and Squall all stood with their mouths partly open, wanting to comment, but physically unable to do so.


	12. Showdown

Disclaimer:I own nothing of this story. Even though I should, because I put a lot of thought into it, but it all came from stuff owned by someone else. Figures...

Notes:I just realized that I forgot to write Chapter 11 Posted! on the summary when I uploaded the previous chapter several days ago. Oh well, I'll mention it along with chap 12 and the epilogue. Anyways, I'm putting the final chapter with the epilogue, because waiting for a boring post-chapter is kind of senseless to me, even though the periods between my updates have been fast lately. Whatever. Anyways, here it is, the finale to my fic. Plus an epilogue (it's called Calm, not Epilogue. Rest assured, _this_ is the final chapter.)

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Chap 12: Showdown

"My body is unlike yours anatomically. Ultima is a suitable replacement for blood. By sharing some Ultima with the Weapons, we were as one."

Cid, Cloud, and Squall, stood emotionless as the Lord of Weapon spoke those words. How could that be even possible?

"If you three are worried about imploding, don't worry. We Cetra were more intelligent than that. The Weapons and I contain an amount of Ultima less than the dangerous quantity, and the liquid is very thin, so the Ultima is not compressed. As you already know, Ultima disrupts reality. Thus, Ultima that was of permanent constitution of the Weapons, I took that and kept it simultaneously in my body. This formed a bond that could not be disturbed unless one of us was knocked unconscious. However, the sharing still existed, and I could watch though the eyes of the Weapons, which interestingly enough are quite omniscient. Also, the bond allows for instantaneous teleportation. When the Weapon finds excess amount of mana, it would transmit that between the fabricons of reality, sending it directly to me, charging me. Luckily, the other Cetra were stupid on two accounts. First, they actually thought that destroying me would cause some major cataclysm, which is absurd. Second, they thought this world would never regenerate. But it did, adding more energy to me. Granted, I don't have perpetual energy as I wished to have because you killed my messengers, but I have far more than I ever did, which will be more than enough to kill the three of you."

His politeness throughout his story had caused all three of them to drop their guard. This sudden declaration of murder shocked them, and they soon remembered why they had traveled so far.

The Lord of Weapon continued, "You see, all of my attacks are elementally charged with Ultima, for which no living creature can defend against."

"That's impossible. Ultima is non-elemental," said Cid.

"You forget that it runs through my veins, my arteries, and my capillaries. Every last blood vessel now serves as an Ultima vessel."

"Shut up," yelled Cid who gripped his spear and charged forward, "You're just human like the rest of us."

"No, Cid," called Cloud, but it was too late, Cid had attempted to pierce the Lord of Weapon, but as the point pressed a few inches away from the albino's face, a loud crack reverberated throughout the tomb, and a green flash knocked Cid backwards several yards. His spear was in pieces. His body was covered with blood. Cloud and Squall quickly rushed to his side.

"I'm alright," said Cid amidst the blood pouring from his mouth, "Go on and kill this guy."

Cloud cast full-cure on him, and Squall followed with a sleep spell to let Cid rest.

Then both of them turned towards the Lord of Weapon.

"Don't you see, I didn't even do that to him. The Ultima acted of its own accord. There is no attacking me, and there is no defending against me."

"We'll just see about that," said Squall as he rushed towards the Cetra with his Lionheart blade. As he approached the torso, the same crack and green flash appeared, but Squall was not flung backwards. He was still pressing his blade towards the Lord of Weapon, who was now covered in the green light.

"What? Oh, of course, a blade of Ultima. But to have the ability to control such a weapon…"

The Lord of Weapon snapped his fingers and the green aura dispersed, allowing Squall to press down with his gunblade. However, he instantly moved out of the sword's trajectory when he snapped his fingers, and he dived towards the right side of the coffin behind him. He quickly pushed aside the lid and placed his hand into the coffin, extracting a large silver broadsword from within. Swinging it into a swordsman stance, he said, "You may be armed with the purest form of Ultima there is, but you cannot defeat me." With that statement, he rushed towards Squall with an overhead strike. Attempting to slash the Weapon Lord's torso before the attack came down, Squall countered with a horizontal slice across the abdomen. To his surprise, the silver sword immediately appeared in front of Squall, pointing downward, flat forward, and deflecting the gunblade. The Lord quickly spun the blade knocking Squall's weapon to the side and brought it up with his right hand for a backhand slash. This attack slammed the gunblade out of Squall's grip and flung it several feet away. Instantaneously, the Lord swung his sword back to Squall in a decapitation movement. Squall had already moved back, the silver tip a couple of centimeters away from his neck. The Lord of Weapon continued to advance, slashing and thrusting the sword towards Squall, who continued to dodge the attacks while still moving backwards. As the Lord began to angle Squall toward the wall, Cloud jumped into the air with his zweihander and sliced downward directly onto the white swordsman. As before, with Squall's failed attack, the silver edge immediately disappeared from the assault on Squall, and it materialized directly above the Lord's head, blocking Cloud's strike, knocking him backwards. Once again, without appearing to move, the Lord of Weapon had moved his hand and sword in the blink of an eye.

Upon landing, Cloud said, "That's impossible, no one can move that fast. It's like you're not even moving."

"Ultima disrupts reality, remember? I can teleport sections of myself short distances. True, I can only do so over a couple of inches, but as you can see, the swift movements are worth everything in a fight."

Squall had quickly taken this opportunity to retrieve his fallen gunblade. When he picked it up and resumed a fighting stance, he said, "Swift? You're not even moving."

"Lesser beings such as yourselves may not realize it, but transmitting myself through reality takes quite a bit of strength. Not everyone can do it, let alone making such decisions in the heat of a sword fight."

"Of course not everyone can do it," said Cloud, "normal people don't have Ultima injections."

"Make jokes all you want. We shall see—"

Playing to the Lord of Weapon's vanity, Cloud immediately thrusted his sword forward and yelled, "Bahamut ZERO!"

The Lord of Weapon suddenly looked taken aback, although it appeared his confusion was derived from Cloud's interruption rather than his words.

"The dragon king?" sputtered the Lord.

A few seconds had passed since the original spell had been cast. In a single instant, a blue light pillar had slammed on top of the Weapon Lord enveloping him in the summon's Tera Flare.

"Got him!" said Cloud with a smirk.

Squall was not easily convinced, and he continued to hold his gunblade, ready to attack. When the light disappeared, the Lord of Weapon stood as before, unscathed, wearing an expression of revulsion.

"How dare you use the King of Summons upon the White Dragon? But no matter, even his powers are nothing against me."

"That can't be. Bahamut disregards defense of any kind," said Cloud, bringing his blade downward to his right side.

"But my defenses are not just any other kind. They are the ultimate kind. Don't you understand what it means to have the nonelemental defense of Ultima? It is as futile as defending against the spell."

"Damn you…"

With that statement, Cloud pulled out his UB and pointed it at the Lord of Weapon. "You're full of Ultima, right?" He fired two shots at the Lord, but a green light vaporized the bullets on contact.

"What?"

"Don't tell me you thought that would work. It didn't even work on the Alpha and Omega Weapons. What made you think—,"

But Cloud had not waited for the sentence to finish. He immediately rushed forward with an onslaught of slashes.

Meanwhile, Squall continued to grip his gunblade, ready to strike. _I can't use my Holy War at this rate. It wouldn't help. It would be a minute of doing absolutely nothing._ _He has to have a weakness. Otherwise, how would the Centra manage to seal him away for the last few thousand years. There has to be a weakness. Wait. _He glanced at the radiant blue edge of the Lionheart. _He wasn't able to deflect Ultima blade as he did with Cid's lance. He's absolutely right. You can't beat Ultima no matter what you use. But what if you fight Ultima with Ultima. _Squall looked over to the duel between Cloud and the Lord of Weapon. In spite of the zweihander's weight, Cloud was managing to exchange an equal amount of blows with the teleporting swordsman. _He's using inertia to move his Ultima Weapon like that. When he slashes with full force, even the Lord of Weapon can feel the impact. Every time when Cloud gains an advantage in the fight, the other guy has to fend of the recoils just like Cloud. He may able to teleport, but he still has limited strength. So what we have to do is get a stronger force of Ultima. Maybe the Ultima spell? No, the scientists said solid Ultima is strongest. Wait a second, that Lord of Weapon has a white sword. It's not made of Ultima. But the sword is being energized by his body, that's why. Cloud and I need an extra boost just like that for our sword. Maybe…_

Squall leaped towards the two duelists, launching a downwards cut at the Lord of Weapon's unprotected back, for at that moment, the Lord and Cloud were clashing their weapons together. As Squall slammed his blade, the Weapon Lord pushed Cloud backwards, allowing the white sword to materialize behind him, countering Squall's attack. Seeing how Cloud was now free to move, Squall hollered, while attempting to push the white sword away from his body, "Cloud, we have to make our swords stronger to beat him. If you don't care about your sword, shoot it with the UB."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Squall was unable to immediately answer; the Lord of Weapon had managed to get the upper hand and was now slashing repeatedly at him.

"Look," said Squall while dodging another blow, "the Ultima spell comes from disruptions within the molecules or something like that, right?" he paused, trying to deflect the oncoming attacks, "And this guy's strength is coming from the Ultima flowing inside his body. All we have to do is shoot our blades, and it'll be like with the Weapons, the liquid should spurt out and there should be mini-Ultima blasts inside the sword itself."

"And what does that do?" said Cloud who decided to finally join the fight again, but Squall motioned him to stay back."

It'll give our blades the combined power of the Ultima spell, solid Ultima, and the liquid form, which appears to be quite strong, I mean, look at our opponent."

Up until this point, the Lord of Weapon was focused on attacking Squall, feeling his words were insignificant, the result of last minute desperation. However, now listening to the logic, he soon realized that he would be at a sever disadvantage if they were able to come through with the plan. He immediately pushed Squall's blade over to the side, releasing his left hand from the handle and facing it towards Squall.

"Burst!"

A green light appeared in front of Squall's torso for an instant. In the next second, Squall was sent flying across the floor, knocking over a set of candles.

"Now you die, you filthy worm," he said while holding his sword with both hands once more. A green light now surrounded the blade, and it appeared to permeate it as well. "You are correct. The strength of the sword was able to challenge your blades of Ultima due to my body. But I have not yet energized the sword with Ultima yet, until NOW!"

He rushed towards the Squall, who was attempting to stand up, and made a horizontal strike across Squall's neck. The wounded SeeD summoned all of his strength to dodge the attack, but he only managed to move a few inches. The glowing sword sliced the front of his chest. The Lord of Weapon turned to face Cloud, smiling, to see his handiwork.

"_That_ was the strongest form of Ultima. Even though I only grazed his skin, the force behind the blow would move past that."

"Well, you're wrong," said a voice behind the Lord of Weapon.

Wearing a face of unconcealed terror, the Lord of Weapon turned around to see Squall bearing only a red scratch mark on his chest between the tears in his clothing.

"That isn't possible. You could not have survived that cut. Unless, you have a high soulon concentration inside your body. But no, how could a mere mortal like yourself contain that high amount of energy."

Frantically, the Lord of Weapon rushed towards Cloud with the same ttack. Cloud, who had been standing motionless, unable to make a decision, was taken off-guard. The pseudo-ex-SOLDIER was attacked in the same way, and he crumbled to the floor. A few seconds later, however, revealed the swordsman standing back up, wearing only a red streak from shoulder to shoulder. Cloud gave a very superior grin.

"Guess both of us are special. It's our turn now."

With the end of that statement, Cloud pointed the UB at his sword and fired one shot near the tip. The blue edge exploded in a mixture of white and green swirls that enveloped the blade in seconds.

"Here, Squall, catch."

Cloud tossed the pistol past the Lord of Weapon over to Squall who had finally managed to stand up. He caught the pistol and immediately pointed it to the tip of his gunblade and fired the final round. This also blew up in a fury of green and white flashes that spread to the rest of the weapon. He instantly felt as though the gunblade had multiplied its own weight by several times. _Damn this is heavy. Cloud didn't seem to feel anything. But then again, he hasn't tried to lift his sword yet. _Squall tried to return to a fighting position but his wounds from the Ultima cut and the additional weight were too much for him, and he fell to his knees once more.

"Too much for you to handle?"

Cloud, sensing the weapon's weight, decided not to lift the weapon lest its flaw be revealed. Instead, he cast a quick fire spell at the Lord of Weapon. The Lord, seeing the flame shooting towards himself, raised his hand and yelled, "Ultima!" A green cloud slammed into Cloud, causing him and his sword to be knocked back in a spinning vortex of green gas, white liquid, blue shrapnel, and blood.

"Cloud!" yelled Squall.

Cloud appeared to be unconscious as he lay on the ground with his stomach facing the floor. Suddenly, he looked up and whispered, "Gotcha!" A huge red aura erupted from Cloud's body, pushing upward into the air. With his new found strength, Cloud lifted his zweihander, tip up, in front of himself, as though he were lifting a twig. He closed his eyes and yelled, "OMNI-SLASH!" Opening his eyes, Cloud rushed forward and concentrated a volley of slashes against the Lord of Weapon. Even though he had been taken off-guard, the Lord managed to teleport his position to deflect the initial hit. But the force of the onslaught was obviously too much. Expressions of strain appeared in the Lord of Weapon's once calm face. As Cloud swiped left and right, the Lord attempted to counter each one by deflected the shot. He managed to defend himself each time, but the recoil was too much. With the ferocity of a demon, Cloud landed fourteen hits, each one knocking the Lord a little further backwards. After the fourteenth cut, Cloud jumped a few feet in the air and came down a cut that sliced the defender's sword in two, cutting toward the Lord of Weapon himself. The Lord immediately warped backwards, but he still caught the edge of the Ultima Weapon, which was now disintegrating in a frenzy of colors. Clutching his wound, he found that his torso was covered with a white liquid, which did not come from the sword, but from his own body.

Squall, seeing Cloud and his exploding sword falling back to the ground, the intensity missing from his blue eyes, ran towards the swordless, bleeding Lord of Weapon. Since he was already an albino, one could not observe the color fading from the Lord of Weapon's face, but it was evident from the terror in his eyes as Squall moved in with his gunblade. As he ran, blood was streaming from his hair, but he didn't care. Now orange and black light enveloped Squall. "LIONHEART!" Squall felt the blade lose weight dramatically, and he made an upward cut, knocking the Lord of Weapon a few feet into the air. With the agility of a lion, Squall followed the Lord and continued with a barrage of cuts. Except this time, the Lord of Weapon had no means of defense and was forced to take every attack at full strength. When ten hits had passed, Squall charged one final shot; the lionheart's blade was now a moving mass of liquid and gas and both forces compressed for a single instant. At that moment, Squall dashed through the air and toward the Lord with one last cut. As he passed the Lord, the blade disintegrated, smashing into the Lord of Weapon who fell to the floor. Squall made a perfect landing, holding his gunblade's handle on his shoulder.

Cloud, also holding a handle without a blade, limped over to Squall.

"Wow, that was good."

"Not too bad yourself."

"Unfortunately, your stupid plan cost us our swords."

"And saved our lives."

"I guess I'll have to buy a new one. The Ragnarok blade was pretty cool."

"And I'll have downgrade to the Punishment."

Both warriors laughed for a few minutes. They had both been nearly killed.

"C'mon, let's go get our pilot and get the hell outta here," said Cloud.

"Not if…I…have…anything to do…with—," said the Lord of Weapon who was trying to stand up. Squall and Cloud instantly turned towards the fallen swordsman. The Lord was drenched in white blood. His gown was shredded, revealing white skin that bruised and cut. "Both of you. You think, you think," the Lord attempted to say. It was taking him the same amount of energy to stand up as it took to talk. "You think you're so strong with your stupid Limit Breaks." He went into a flurry of breathing, having said an entire sentence without pausing. The Lord finally managed to stand up, though he was hunched forward, with only one eye completely open. "Where did those attacks come from…You…got…them…from us. I…will…show you the ultimate…limit. It's used…to destroy…an entire planet…if…necessary. You die…with me."

"You're bluffing. You've got nothing left," said Squall.

The Lord smiled. But this wasn't the smug smile of superiority as he had worn. This was the expression of insanity. He clasped his hands together. As his body was surrounding by a fierce, red glow, he uttered with his final breaths, "FINAL TERRA SHATTER!" His body seemed to instantly collapse, but unexpectedly, his body held together. It even straightened. When his eyes turned to Squall and Cloud once more, they saw the truth. His pupils were gone, replaced by a dead whiteness. The Lord of Weapon had allowed himself to die, letting the energy of the Ultima within him be devoted to sustaining the Limit Break. Before Cloud and Squall could react, they heard several large cracks, and the floor began shaking. It was an earthquake, and the candles, statues, and coffins that were falling everywhere were sure signs that the tomb was also about to collapse.

"Damn, he _is_ trying to destroy the planet," said Squall frantically.

He turned over to Cloud, who had sprinted over to Cid, tapping his head with the sword handle.

"Wha? What's going on?" mumbled Cid as he was snapping back to reality. It only took a few seconds for him to register the earthquakes, the collapsing tomb, and the floating albino corpse, and yell, "SHIT! We gotta get outta here."

"That's why you're awake now," said Cloud, "Come on, get up."

The three immediately ran at full speed out of the tomb and into the open air. Eyeing the Gravitor and selectively pushing the images of the pleateau cracking in front of them, they ran forward, jumping over the rapidly expanding fissures that lined the once stable brick path. Realizing that the foundation beneath the Gravitor might also collapse, Cid used his spear to vault over to the ship's entrance, and he ran inside to active the controls. As Cloud and Squall hurried into the Gravitor, still clutching their weapons' handles, Cid's voice boomed on the intercom temporarily masking the sound of a planet that was self-destructing. _This is your captain speaking. All aboard. If not, tough luck. The ship is now lifting off._ Squall and Cloud immediately held on to the closest counters they could find. As soon as they held grip, the Gravitor rose into the sky and shot out of the atmosphere, disappearing into a blink a few minutes later.

Planet Cetran continued to suffer immense earthquakes for few more minutes, before a huge explosion that could be heard from the neighboring planets erupted in the planet's core. Centran resembled a star for single moment as it was surrounded by a flash emanating from the center, then it fragmented into pieces that were shot outward to the rest of the star system. The flare from the core continued to move outward, eventually being dispersed by cosmic winds. After a little bit longer, any otherworldly being would have seen the location of the former planet Cetran as an asteroid field. The only signs of the former planet were huge masses of rock floating in space.


	13. Calm

Disclaimer:I assume if you read this, you read the one in the previous chapter already, right before this one, since they've been posted together.

Notes:Nothing left to say. I'm just happy that I finally finished this so I can move on with my master plan. Muahahahahaha! Sorry...

Final Fantasy 7/8: Lord of Weapon

Epilogue Chapter: Calm

_Casa del Sol_

It had been two days since the battle with the Lord of Weapon as well as the environmental disasters that had plagued the Planet, and nearly everyone was taking a well-deserved vacation. They were planning to visit the other world for a different view, but the Gravitor, having warped so many times in spite of the enhancements given by the Esthar scientists, had a broken reactor once more. While Cid was attempting to fix the system along with the original crew from Rocket Town, everyone went back to his or her own life. Yuffie continued her materia business at Casa del Sol, which, in spite of damages from several hurricanes, continued to attract families who had left their homes during the remodeling process. Vincent disappeared, probably returning to the Shinra Mansion. Nanaki went back to the Cosmo Canyon as always. Reeve had actually left his post at Midgar, mumbling something along the lines of: "…damn lost cause, then the tornados come, and then they ask me to evacuate them…" before he went to swim in the warm water marking the edge of Casa del Sol. Barret and his daughter Marlene were also present enjoying the rays of sun.

Cloud and Tifa were sitting on beach chairs, side by side, facing the ocean, and sipping coconut drinks. Tifa found herself staring at Reeve for a moment—_Wow, I never knew he was that toned. He seems really strong. I wonder if he can fight…_—then quickly caught herself and turned over to Cloud. He had apparently fell asleep with the straw still in his mouth and the drink in his lap. After calling his names a few times to ensure his lack of consciousness, Tifa bent over her chair to get a clearly angle at his face. It had been so many years since Aeris' death. She was sad, of course. But she had hoped that he would care for herself as much as she cared for him. She knew it was selfish, but as she thought about it each time, virtually every single night, she recalled that it wasn't clear whether or not he liked either of them beyond a friendship. _Hell,_ Tifa thought, while peering at Cloud's dreamy expression, _he might even be gay._ She chuckled a bit, still feeling nervous. She had waited such a long time; could she possibly have a real kiss. She had stolen some many times over the last few years, but she wondered whether or not her hopes would be unfounded. As Tifa drew closer to Cloud's face, she heard someone call.

"I'm not sure he would appreciate the fact that your are taking advantage of him, especially when he's not awake," said Reeve who had just returned from the water with a grin.

"Shut up, it's just, he hasn't spoken to me at all about…us. Maybe he doesn't…"

"You're right, a personal topic like that _should_ come up in a period of crisis. Come on, once things have calmed down for a while, he'll open up. The child inside will finally come out of the hardened adult," said Reeve, who was staring at the large sword, the Ragnarok, that lay at Cloud's side, a visual anomaly when seen in the midst of sand, children, and Cloud's lack of battle armor (he was wearing swim shorts) "It's just that, ever since Sephiroth and Meteor, we've had one problem after another. Let him relax."

"I hope you're right, Reeve."

"Huh, what?" said a sleep-eyed Cloud.

"I can't believe you fell asleep while drinking something," said Tifa in a mock-angry voice.

"I'm still pretty tired. Hello, Reeve."

"You shouldn't leave yourself in such a vulnerable position," said Reeve while casting a mischievous grin towards Tifa, whose face began to flush.

"Don't worry, I'm well trained. If anything comes within an inch of my face, this sword," said Cloud while patting his blade, "will be up in an instant."

Both Reeve and Tifa began laughing uncontrollably leaving Cloud confused. Afterwards, they began talking about their lives in general, such as: Is there any hope for a Midgar reawakening? Reeve now felt that perhaps it would be better just to leave the place for nature and move on in his life, even though he was one of the last active Shinra employees. He was also the only higher-up who was still at work. The others had died or went missing, like Rufus. Eventually the conversation drifted back to the Lord of Weapon and Reeve asked Cloud, "So what did Bugenhagen say about the prophecy?"

"We were interrupted when the first wave of disasters came; that's when we rushed over to the other planet without picking up anyone else."

"Haven't you asked him again, since you got back?"

"Yeah, but now he decided not to tell me. He told me that I should live out my own destiny without seeing it before it happens. When this ultimate battle comes, I'll be ready to face it, along with Squall."

"Makes sense."

Tifa spoke under her breath, "I wish I could see the rest of his destiny…"

"Well, at least you don't have dreams anymore," said Reeve.

"Oh yeah, that's just it. Last night, I had the weirdest dream. It reminded me of the other one, but I've only had this once so I'm not worrying yet. In it, I was in a laboratory, and Hojo was in front of me, smiling."

"Really?" said both Tifa and Reeve.

"Yeah, I was sweating when I woke up, but that was all I saw."

_Balamb Garden, Secret Area within the Training Center_

Squall and Rinoa were alone that night. The party that Selphie had organized would last until two in the morning. It was midnight, and virtually everyone in Garden was still celebrating in the ballroom. Rinoa and Squall had left early, getting some time to themselves. They had been admiring the night sky for several minutes, Rinoa nestling the back of her head in Squall's chest.

"Squall, aren't you at all scared about that prophecy you told me about?"

"Not really, though I wish that I could have talked to that old man Bugenhagen one more time, but he didn't have time with all the tornados going around."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. We definitely had our hands full, especially when evacuating the smaller towns like Winhill. But I still haven't forgiven you for not picking me up, Squall Leonhart!"

"You said it yourself! Things were crazy."

"Okay, okay. But why didn't you go back with them?"

"Because I wanted to see you guys, especially you," said Squall, now looking down at Rinoa.

Rinoa looked back, saying, "Thanks, but didn't they tell you that they would be right back. What if something happened?"

"Don't worry," said Squall as he looked back at the murky waters in front of the floating Garden, "that guy Cloud is sure to keep good care of himself. He is one hell of a fighter. I can't believe how powerful he is. That's also why I'm not really scared of this prophecy because I know he's on my side."

"That's good to hear. And what about this nightmare you said you had? What if you're go into something that's going to be really dangerous. You told me the Lord of Weapon was a joke, but when I asked Cloud, he told me you both had died."

"I didn't want you to worry, and don't worry about it. It's only happened once. It's probably nothing. Just some crazy doctor in a laboratory."

With that statement, he spun Rinoa around and placed on hand on her left cheek.

"The next battle is nothing to worry about," he said, bringing his face closer to hers, "remember, we've gotten through so much, the fight against Ultimecia, that whole thing with the Goddess controversy afterwards, that Galbadian psycho who planned to devastate the entire continent of Balamb, and so many others. Actually, it seems like we're cursed. But we're still here. Just stand by me. Everything's going to be fine."

Without letting her respond, he pressed his lips against hers, masking the trepidation inside his mind. _The worst is yet to come_, thought Squall.

_Esthar, Presidential Office_

Laguna was playing an online RPG on his computer, but his mind was elsewhere. He had thought he would gain the ability to relax after the all the storms had dissipated, leaving his country in a decent state. So much paperwork, but the news from his son told him everything was fine. But now, he couldn't even sleep, sneaking to his office just to play a game. Laguna gripped the hot chocolate in his left hand more tightly than ever, attempting to type commands one-handed. The scientists in the Ultima Research Division had uncovered a remarkable amount of information in the last couple of days. It was as though they had jumped directly from the Stone Age to the Industrial Revolution in Galbadia centuries before.

_It can't be coincidence that there was a break-in yesterday. No one has ever broken into any of the laboratories before. But suddenly, with all these new discoveries about Ultima, someone pulls a MacGuyver and gets through all of the security devices. What's worse is that they've stolen nothing. What did they see? What did they want?_

Laguna finally logged off the game, stood up, and went into the elevator. He pressed the roof button. A few minutes later, he found himself standing on the highest point for miles. He cautiously moved toward the edge, clasping both hands hard onto the railing. He gazed at the farthest regions of his city. He felt nervous.

_Something's going to happen. I can feel it. The question is, will I be able to protect these people?_

The cold night gave him no answers. The wind fluttered around the night air, sending breezes devoid of any truth. Other than the sporadic drafts, things were calm.

Endnotes:There it is, Lord of Weapon is complete. If you read other stuff of mine, check my profile page every now and then. I plan to add my other ficsa week afterI get back from trip to the East Coast tomorrow. I've already begun writing them, but as always, I like to write chapters past the one currently being posted. That way, it forms a sense of commitment (yeah, right, it failed last autumn). It allows me to clarify the plot, so I won't have to erase a posted story because it doesn't make sense. Which is a good thing, because I just realized that the sequel to this fic has the same plot as my Vincent fic. Obviously, I have to change some things. Here are names to look out for:

Dark Descent-1st person narrative starring Vincent, who meets a mysterious man who holds the location of the Jenova File that Vincent is desperate to find. As he scours the world, he becomes more obsessed. How much will he sacrifice to find the answers he seeks? Will he give up his friends?

Ultima Rising-The sequel to Lord of Weapon. The entire crew of FF7 arrive in the world of FF8 for a vacation two(or 3)months after the prequel. They soonfind themselves in the middle of a war between Esthar and a mysterious military organization called the Order of Ultima...

Sephiroth Chronicles-A "long-shot" fic. That means it will be updated every now and then, maybe. Treat it as a one-shot, for now. Basically, this fic gives me an opportunity to write stories about Sephiroth while he was part of SOLDIER. The chapters may not be in chronological order, just insight into the career of the legendary swordsman.

Reflections(tentative)-Two part fic about Tifa's feelings about Cloud. This will come later, after Ultima Rising is finished to be exact.

Well, that's all folks!

-silversquall


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